She Thought It Was Brilliant
by H.J. Fotemr
Summary: I have a bad habit of daydreaming. Most of these daydreams have unnecessary OCs, and one of these unnecessary OCs happened to be an invasive character for the Doctor Who universe. I wrote a teaser, and people liked it, so now I'm dedicating hours of my life to writing it down. Wow. Follow Alex as she develops herself from the ground up, creeping into the terrible unknown.
1. Teaser

Timelines are complicated. So are universes, and so are worlds. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they are each different from one another in very specific, very important ways. A single universe can contain many worlds. A single world must contain many timelines. A single timeline is rife with potential and constantly in flux. Otherwise, free will would mean nothing, and then there would we be?

 _Well,_ we would be in most versions of reality, but that's not the point.

Pete's World was an offshoot timeline that refused to fade. Like bacteria, it split off from some original world to grow into a fully-formed _place_ where it slowly shifted out of sync. Rose was never far from a living version of her father. They lived in the same universe.

Ah. _Universes._

There are very few universes that have direct parallels—and yet they must, for they are infinite. Worlds within a single universe can grow and split and fade forever; they can breed into smaller dimensions and bleed into a void of infinite dark and _appear_ to be infinite themselves, but they're not. The _multiverse_ can only by inevitable coincidence contain a rare almost-mirror image, and ooh boy are you a rare thing if you ever manage find them, let alone get even from one unrelated universe to another.

This is where our story begins: with a universe in which the Doctor finds something he never does, in one of the worlds where he does the right thing, in the world where she comes back, in the timeline where an impossible gap is bridged, and our universe—not our world in particular, mind you, but our universe—bleeds into another.

She couldn't remember a thing.


	2. Nothing to Remember Pt 1

_Longest A/N: You read the summary. You know what this is. This OC is not STRICTLY SPEAKING a_ _ **M**_ _ary_ _ **S**_ _ue, but since most people have very loose definitions of what a_ _ **M**_ _ary_ _ **S**_ _ue is, and since this character is, indeed, "invasive," I thought I should point it out again for those of you who would get mad about it and weren't paying attention to the summary. There are exactly two things about her story that makes her "invasive" and which would certainly be considered Mary Sue if she were to appear in the show. (Unless the show began in 2005, but it didn't, so)_

 _She is not: Bossy, universally loved, right all the time, over-powered, or beautiful. But she does get in places an OC ought not to be._

 _If you're cool with that, read on! If not, I'm not sure why you clicked. "Invasive" is in the summary. So I mean. Come on._

* * *

Before we begin, it must be made clear: The TV show _Doctor Who_ , while having multiple reflections of its events existing in reality, is not wholly accurate to the world—or, indeed, the universe—in which the majority of this story takes place. It does, however, exist throughout our universe. It exists in many worlds, and it is in one of these worlds that our story... Well, it doesn't begin there, but an infant isn't to remember anything before this place, so we will wait to speak of earlier, and we will call it this infant's world.

A little girl lived a life. It doesn't matter what sort of life she lived, for our story begins when she forgets. This girl wasn't a little girl when she forgot, but she was soon to assume she had been. It was the mistake of an impulse that made this so, having her appear outside her universe, inside this world in which our story takes place (now that the world within our universe has done its job of beginning the story). The impulse shall be forgiven, of course, because who can blame a wolf for acting on instinct? The wolf took this girl, took her age, took her memories—and the wolf dropped her into time.

To be more specific, she was dropped into the streets of London, Christmas, 2006, and the world was ending. Before she knew what was happening, the girl was running. The streets were packed with panicked people staring up at the sky, at the thing she was running from. Behind her, its shadow overtook the whole world. It was much too fast for her frantic feet.

She turned a corner, and all around were tall apartment buildings, graffiti staring back at her from walls below. It was almost more of an alleyway than a street, and it ended in a parking lot. Beyond the parking lot, some ways in front of an apartment door, stood a big blue box with a light on top. She rounded the box and saw doors and windows, and there was a sign on the front that said _Pull to open._

The shadow was gaining. The girl grabbed the handles and tugged, but it wouldn't open. She looked around at the sky. There was no hope of outrunning the thing. She ducked behind the box and sat on the ground, shivering with fear as the great big spaceship blotted out the blue sky on Christmas. There was glass on the ground, but her sweatpants did a good job of protecting her legs and bottom.

She couldn't remember a thing. She wasn't even sure at what point in her running she had forgotten, why she'd begun running, or where she'd run from. She knew her first name, and she knew that she was... well, a she. Other than that, she was clueless. What did she look like? Where did she come from? Why had she felt the need to run from that big mound of rock in the sky? She didn't know.

The door of a nearby apartment building crashed open. The girl started, wrapping her arms around her legs instinctively. Out the building came the back of a man's head, dark brown hair and skin like coffee. He wore a beige woolly-looking jacket and jeans, and he was shuffling backwards with something in both arms. When he turned, she saw that he had hold of another man's legs, this one in pajamas and a dark blue bathrobe. On the other end of the man—

"Wolf," the girl murmured, not knowing why.

A blonde girl, about the age of the man at the other man's feet, held the unconscious otherman by his armpits. At the sound of the voice, she stopped moving and looked up at the girl on the ground. The girl on the ground shrank back.

"Mickey," the wolf said, out of breath. The brown man jerked his head around, but only briefly, because he needed to stay focused on his grip.

"What—" The man glanced around a second time, then said, "Who is that?"

The wolf's eyes were wide. Behind her, another woman stepped out of the building, blonde like her, laden with bags and apparently exasperated. This one was wearing pink and blue. Seeing that the two others had stopped, she looked around for a cause and spotted the girl. The girl shrank back even more. This attention was unpleasant.

The woman said, "Who's that then? Is that Carter's little girl? Rose?"

The wolf spoke again, still out of breath. "She called me wolf."

"Rose, I thought you said we gotta move," said the man—Mickey. And the wolf, the girl supposed, was Rose.

"Right," Rose said. "C'mon."

They shuffled closer to the girl. She scrambled to her feet, cutting her left hand in the process on a shard of glass. She moved away some, but she felt reluctant to leave the periphery of the box as the strangers went to open it.

The older blonde moved as fast as she could, but the weight of her bags made her waddle in a way that the girl thought resembled a pink and yellow penguin. The woman paused when she came parallel with the girl and leaned closer. "Are you all right, dear? Where's your family?"

"Prob'ly on the roof!" called Mickey from a distance. This was weird, because the girl could have sworn he'd just stepped into the box with Rose.

The bag woman looked stricken at that. She glanced upward, as if expecting to see the girl's family on the apartment buildings. Looking up, the girl realized there _were_ in fact a lot of people standing up there. Her heart climbed to her throat.

"Mum, get in here!"

"All _right!"_ The bag lady turned to the girl. "Would you like to come inside, dear? It'll be safe in there. You can have a cuppa tea."

" _Mum!"_

The girl nodded frantically. The woman tried to offer a hand, but she ended up dropping a bag. The girl instinctively picked it up for her.

"Oh, thank you, sweetheart." The woman gestured with her head and said in a kindly voice, "Come on."

Rounding the box, the girl found that the doors had been opened inward, and the interior was much bigger than the exterior. It had strange green lighting, stone supports that looked like coral, a metal ramp up, there were doors leading off in the back, and at the center: a round control panel with a glass column sticking out, the source of the green light.

The blonde woman paused upon entry, but not long. The girl wasn't as surprised as she felt she should have been at the appearance of the inside of the box, but she was certainly in awe.

Rose and Mickey had set the other man on the metal grate of a floor, just next to some strange seating. Rose was leaned against the console. Mickey stood by with his hands on his hips. It seemed as though they were in the middle of an interaction. Mickey was saying, "So we just sit here then."

Rose didn't answer. She was looking at the girl. The girl timidly followed the woman inside and set down her bag. The woman took something that looked like a thermos out of one. She took the top off, which turned out to be a nice little plastic mug, and poured something into it, then handed it to the girl. "There you go, dear. Nice cup of tea. There's enough for the rest of you when you like," she added in the direction of the other two and the unconscious man. "I'll get the rest of the food."

Then she ran out, shutting the doors behind her.

The girl stared at Rose, who stared back with a silent intensity that made the girl think that calling her a wolf hadn't been too far off. Mickey came around the console and picked up the thermos thing from the ground where the woman had left it. "Tea," he laughed. "Like we're havin' a picnic while the world is comin' to an end."

"What's your name?" Rose asked the girl.

Mickey had the dignity to look offended, but not surprised, at the interruption. "All right then," he muttered.

The girl glanced at him, but she couldn't look away from the wolf for long. The question demanded an answer. "Alex."

"Alex," Rose echoed, sounding as if the name was something strange and unpleasant.

"Yeah?" Alex challenged. She still felt nervous, but her name was all she had.

"Nothing," Rose said. Her arms were crossed, and she was rocking slowly back and forth, like she was deep in thought. She inhaled sharply. "Why'd you call me 'wolf'?"

"I didn't," the girl said too quickly.

"You did," Rose insisted. "I heard you. You saw me and said 'wolf.'"

"Hold on," Mickey cut in. He pointed at Alex. She didn't like being pointed at. "Are you American?"

"American..." Alex tasted the word in her mouth. It came out different from the way Mickey said it. "Yeah, I think so."

"You _think_ so?"

Rose didn't say anything, but the way she was looking at Alex demanded she met her eyes. The silence was short, but being in this place and not knowing these people—Alex couldn't take it. "I don't know why I called you wolf," she told Rose sincerely. "I just... did."

Mickey didn't seem to think much of this. He stepped around and looked at something on the other side of the console. His eyes widened. "Hold on—Rose. How does this thing work? 'Cause it's picked up TV. Maybe we can tell what's goin' on out there."

As he said this, Mickey set down the thermos thing and leaned over the console. Rose was clearly reluctant to pull herself away from Alex and the wolf situation, but she stepped over to help. Alex wanted to go over and see what they were doing, but she was still on edge, so she sipped her tea.

"I don't know," Rose said. "It sort of tunes itself." She tapped on something, and there was a wiry buzz. Alex craned her neck to see what had happened, but neither of the adults gave an indication that anything they'd wanted to happen had happened.

Rose walked around the back of the console. She appeared wary and tired. "So, Alex," she said slowly, testing the name on her tongue. Again, this bothered Alex, but she didn't say anything. "What're you doing overseas?"

Alex didn't know how to respond. She got the feeling that the fact that she couldn't remember anything was a big deal, and this girl made her very uncomfortable. But she had to answer somehow, so she shrugged.

"It's makin' noise," Mickey said over by the thing Rose had tapped. "What d'you suppose it means?"

"I dunno," said Rose, turning her head briefly to look at the man. Her hair flung around in a shower of gold. Alex thought that was interesting for some reason. A thought tickled the back of her mind, like a memory, like nostalgia, or deja vu—but then it was gone.

Alex sipped her tea. It was pretty good.

"Have you seen me before?" Rose asked of her, turning back.

Alex began to shake her head, but it devolved into a confused half-shrug. Rose didn't seem happy with that.

Mickey leaned over to look at them. "Come on, Rose, leave the girl alone."

Rose whirled around, and her hair flew. "Bad Wolf, Mickey. Don't you remember? It was everywhere, a message. To _me._ Now there's this alien invasion, the Doctor's down for the count, and—"

"She didn't say 'Bad Wolf,' though, did she?"

Rose looked frustrated. Alex sipped her tea nervously. Bad Wolf did sound familiar to her, just like Rose's face and how she made her think of "wolf." And her hair, how it looked when she moved her head fast. Alex suddenly had a thought. Maybe she _had_ seen Rose before. But if that was the case, why didn't Rose know her?

Alex raised the mug to her lips again as Rose opened her mouth to give in angrily. "No. I guess not. Sorry."

She didn't sound sorry, but Alex figured she was under a lot of stress with the thing outside. Rose probably knew what was going on with it—unlike Alex, who knew nothing.

The three of them stood in silence for a minute or two. Alex finished her tea and wished she was brave enough to go pour herself some more. Mickey became irritated with the thing on the console, which Alex wished she was brave enough to go over for a look at, and Rose sat down, defeated, in the strange chair next to the unconscious man.

Finally, Alex built up the courage to wonder aloud, "Who's that?"

Rose's eyes drifted down to the man. "That's the Doctor," she said plainly.

 _The Doctor._ She'd said those words before, but Alex hadn't been paying very much attention. Now that she heard it again, she got a tingling in the back of her neck. More deja vu. Did she know these two? She looked at Mickey, but she didn't get quite the same feeling. Alex wished she was brave enough to say anything about it. Instead, she had another question. "Where's the other woman?"

"My mum," Rose said. "Her name's Jackie. And I'm Rose, by the way."

"Mickey," Mickey provided.

"She's..." Rose trailed off, a look of realization dawning on her face. "Where is she?"

Mickey shrugged. The thing made a sound again.

"I better go help her," Rose sighed, standing up. "It might start raining missiles out there. You wanna come too?" she asked Alex.

Alex's chest grew cold at the idea of leaving this place. She shook her head.

"Suit yourself." Rose walked past her to the door.

This movement gave Alex an excuse to move closer to Mickey and the thing on the console. Mickey watched her approach. He wasn't as intimidating as Rose, so Alex found it less nerve-wracking to nod at the screen he was looking at and ask, "What's that?"

The door of the box opened with a creak. Alex found the rest of the tea sitting behind Mickey and went to pour herself some more.

Mickey seemed happy to answer her question. "It's a transmitter." He gestured at it with one hand. "It picks up signals, like TV or—"

He was cut off by a bloodcurdling screech. Alex jumped so violently that she dropped the container with the rest of the tea in it, spilling most of what she'd managed to pour into her mug as well.

Mickey stood. "Rose?" He ran to the door.

Alex followed, more hesitant, but she had to stop at the handrails by the ramp when Rose screamed, "The door— _close the door!"_ and Mickey ran back to pull it shut. He didn't do this, however, before Alex saw the room outside, and the aliens with the horrible red faces and skulls on the outside of their skin. She saw other people as well, but those were what caught her attention.

She dropped her mug and ran back to the console. She almost tripped on the Doctor on the way to the screen, where she stopped and tapped at it desperately. Mickey had said it picked up signals. If they were on the ship—

The screen turned to static. Alex froze. The picture showed something fuzzy and from a strange angle, but she could just make out Rose's hair. She was hugging someone, presumably one of the humans Alex had seen. She pulled away, and...

Something was wrong. The air was hotter than it had been a moment ago, and it felt damp. Alex looked down and realized there was steam arising from where she'd dropped the tea earlier, and also from where she'd dropped her mug... also with tea in it. Had she just broken this place?

The Doctor suddenly inhaled. Alex jumped again. She backed away from him, forgetting the screen for the moment. She didn't notice when it flickered off. She was too focused on the Doctor, who had just exhaled gold smoke and was now rolling over now and groaning.

"Blimey," he croaked. He did his best to sit up. It was very clumsy, but he managed it. Then he sniffed. "Chamomile? No. Earl grey. No..."

Alex thought the smell _was_ very nice, but something under the floor was sparking, and she didn't think that was probably a very good sign.

The Doctor pushed himself forward, grabbed the edge of the console, and dragged himself to his feet. He inhaled deeply, then let out a noisy sigh that made Alex jump again. "AH! That's the stuff. Now... what... where..." He didn't seem to have noticed Alex. He was shuffling around the console, apparently looking for something. "That's no good," he muttered. "Translation circuits—" He stopped.

Alex gulped. He'd seen her. This man had wild eyes. His hair was wild, too. The pajamas didn't help.

"Who're you?" he asked indignantly.

"Alex," Alex sputtered. "Uh, you—y-you're the Doctor."

The Doctor swayed a bit on his feet. When he'd managed to still himself, his wild frown flipped into a wild grin. "Yes I am. Okay, right. Gotta get those translation circuits back online. Won't do if—"

He fell over.

Alex stared, unsure as to whether she should go over and help or get as far away from him as possible. She knew for certain that it wouldn't do to laugh, although she was tempted. "Are you—?"

"Fine!" The Doctor leapt to his feet. "Just recovering. I— _urp."_ He burped up some golden smoke.

The steam from the tea was everywhere now. Actually, Alex was fairly sure there hadn't been enough tea to make this much steam at all. In fact, she was definitely sure tea steam didn't smell like smoke.

The Doctor ran around the console, this time flipping switches as he went. He pressed a button, and fans turned on somewhere. The smoke retreated. Alex's rising panic went with it.

"That's better." The Doctor beamed at her. The smile was familiar, like Rose's hair, only... more. She couldn't help but smile back as he went on, "Now I can get to fixing the translation circuits. They must've been damaged in the crash. I crashed the ship this morning. Was it this morning? Did you know this was a ship? It's called the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I'm the Doctor, by the way. Who are you?" He'd said all this almost absently while going around the console again. Now he ran over to a random part of the room and lifted up some of the floor. He jumped down into it so Alex could only see the spiky top of his hair.

Alex decided she liked him very much. "I didn't know it was a ship," she told him. "And I'm Alex. But I already—"

"Nice to meet you, Alex. I'm the Doctor."

"You said that already."

"Did I? I guess I'm not sure." The TARDIS made a small bubbly noise, and the Doctor lifted himself out of the floor. He replaced the grate and stood. Thoughtful, he said, "I guess I can't be sure of anything. Who I am, what I am. _Well,_ I suppose I _am_ the Doctor, but beyond that, it's all brand new. I— _urp."_ He burped up a little more golden smoke.

"What's that?"

"Regeneration energy." The Doctor sniffed. "That should be the last of it. Now, Rose'll be waiting for me. Mind if I ask you to hang back? I like a dramatic entrance."

Alex watched the Doctor walk to the door and take hold of the inner handles. He stood there for a moment with his head down. Alex slowly stepped up behind him, being sure to "hang back" just enough. Finally, he swung open the doors. Rose was on the other side, along with the aliens and Mickey and someone Alex didn't recognize.

"Didja miss me?"

Rose's smile was so relieved that Alex wondered if the man had been dying.

The Doctor walked out to greet the wolf, but one of the aliens screamed and threw a line of electricity at him. He raised a hand to defend himself, and—

—the TARDIS doors slammed shut. Alex ran and tried to pull them open, but they wouldn't budge. She was trapped inside.

On the other side of the doors, she heard shouting, then a snap. Then, "Now _you_ just wait. I'm busy!"

Alex stomped her foot in frustration. She pushed and pulled at the doors to no avail. The TARDIS made a sound behind her that she couldn't help but interpret as a reprimand, like, _Stop doing that._

She kicked the door and ran back up to the console. The Doctor must have fixed something other than the translation circuits, because the screen turned on before she'd had a chance to try and tap it. She saw the scene outside from an angle that told her the TARDIS had a camera somewhere above the door. The Doctor, it showed, was standing nose-to-nose with Rose. It picked up the sound of his voice, but he must have been whispering if the low growl was anything to go by.

"Am I," he was saying, "ginger?"

"No... You're just sort of _brown."_

"Oh, I wanted to be ginger, I've never been ginger—and _you,_ Rose Tyler! _FAT_ lotta good you were—you gave up on me! Oh, that's rude. Is that the sorta man I am now? Am I rude?"

Alex sat down on the chair behind her, enraptured by the display. Even surrounded by a hoard of vicious aliens, this Doctor guy was walking around like he owned the place, like he knew he was better than everyone in the room. She felt like she'd normally find that incredibly annoying, but it was oddly admirable in this context. She wanted to know more about him, more about the TARDIS, more about Rose and what Bad Wolf meant. Maybe the Doctor could help her remember who she was. She felt like he was exactly the person who would be able to help with that kind of thing.

Then he slammed his hand down on the "great big threatening button," and Alex wondered if maybe she shouldn't let him anywhere near her brain, because who in their right mind would ever do such a thing?

"See that's all blood control is: cheap bit'a voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes."

At that, Alex's admiration returned full force. He was _smart._

"I CHALLENGE YOU!"

He wasn't, however, all that good with a sword. Alex leaned forward, holding her breath as the Doctor fought the aliens' leader. Then he ran out of view, and the TARDIS screen went back to its random symbols.

Alex leaned back, annoyed. She got up and ran back down to the door, but it was still locked. She heard sounds from outside, yelling and jeering, but not the clanging of swords she'd heard on the screen. This was complete and utter bullshit.

Oh, that was a swear. Did Alex swear? She felt like she was probably too young to swear, if her height in relation to the others and how they'd treated her was anything to go by.

Finally, there was a cheer from outside. It sounded like Mickey, and then there was another shout from Rose. Alex tried again to open the doors, and this time it worked. The blue box was back on Earth, just on a street corner in what looked like an empty part of town. Mickey, Rose, the Doctor, and two people she didn't recognize stood a small ways away, cheering and hugging each other. None of them noticed when she stepped out of the box, leaving the door open behind her. She turned her head to the sky and saw the thing she'd started out running from fly away from the Earth.

She shivered.

"Alex!"

She started at her name being called. Rose had noticed her. She walked over, beaming. It was so out of character, Alex took a few steps back. Rose's grin widened. "He did it—the Doctor did it. He saved us all."

Mickey, who had followed her over, nodded. "Your family won't be on the roof anymore. You can go to 'em."

"My mum can give you a lift," Rose added. She seemed much nicer now that she was happy.

Alex's heart thrummed in her chest. "I... I can't."

Their smiles faded. "What?" Rose asked.

"I don't have a family," Alex explained. "Well, I might, but I don't..." They were looking very much less ecstatic now than they'd been a moment ago. She swallowed. "I don't remember anything. I didn't say before. All I know is my own name. I don't know why." Her voice got smaller and smaller the longer she talked, until the last word was barely a breath.

And then—

"ROSE!"

From behind her came the shrill call of Rose's mother. Jackie, Alex remembered. She came running down the street to the call of, "Mum!" right into a swinging hug.

The Doctor sauntered over to stand next to Alex as Mickey and Rose greeted Jackie. Rose raised her voice and gestured at him, talking about tea. The Doctor leaned closer to Alex and spoke in a low voice. "Are you a friend of Rose?"

Alex gave herself a moment to think about it. Then, suppressing a smile, she said, "I've known her as long as I can remember."


	3. Something to Know Pt 2

It has to be said that Alex's behavior over the next few hours were entirely against her nature—or it would have been if she could remember why. As it happened, she had no reference for why it felt strange to explain that she had no memories to the Doctor, or why it felt wrong that she had, without much difficulty, requested his help. When he agreed, it felt odd that she had expressed gratitude without much confusion, and by the time she was having a casual conversation with the Tylers, Alex was thinking her discomfort earlier may not have been solely a product of the situation.

Jackie was in the middle of a motherly spiel about how she was going to do everything in her power to help Alex find her family when the woman from the ship cut her off by murdering the aliens with big green lasers from who-knows-where. Then the Doctor got angry, and Alex's respect for him shifted a bit closer to the fear end of the respect spectrum—the respectrum, so to speak—as he shouted her down, then went to whisper something in the ear of a nearby man.

Her next oddly out of place act was to follow the Doctor and Rose into the TARDIS in a state of simple curiosity, even after what she'd just witnessed. Maybe it was a symptom of amnesia that you just don't have a proper reference for things. She thought probably.

Mickey and Jackie stood by the door as the Doctor commentated on what was happening. "First thing's first, gotta find out who you are." He started going around the console, doing that thing with the switches and the toggling. "The TARDIS has an _incredible_ storage of identity recognition data. She knows the faces, finger-prints, DNA patterns, and shoe sizes of everyone on Earth, since she's had access to the data-banks of every government on the planet over the course of _most_ of its history. So if you're human, you'll show up here. As for if you're human..." He paused to look at the console screen. "You are."

He fiddled with some things again then swung the screen around the console so everyone could see. It showed them a series of faces, flipping through like a stack of paper, too fast for Alex to take in any details. They all seemed to be the same pale color she was, and most of them had blonde or brown or reddish hair. She plucked at a bit of her own hair and found that it was a sort of strawberry blonde. (Hard to tell in the light of the TARDIS.) Then she looked around the room for a camera, but there didn't seem to be any.

After a minute or so, the images stopped, and a message appeared onscreen in angry red letters.

 _IDENTITY INVALID_

"What?" the Doctor said in disbelief. He shook the screen with one hand. "But that's everyone on the planet. Hold on..." He typed something on what appeared to be an old type-writer. Then he toggled a switch, and the screen went flashing with faces again. It lasted a minute or two longer this time. As it went, the Doctor explained: "I've extended the perimeters to all of humanity within the next five billion years. Could be you're a time traveler. Never know. The TARDIS should have picked up some residual data from Platform One, besides which, well, I've been further than that and— _what?"_

The screen had once again come up with no answer. Alex wasn't sure what to make of it. Appearing flustered, the Doctor fiddled with some things again, muttering, "Okay then, let's try the past."

 _IDENTITY INVALID_

"Oh," Alex said, because she felt like she should express something.

"That's impossible," the Doctor murmured, staring at her like a particularly difficult math problem. "You're human, I'm sure of it. Hold on—" He went to do a few more things that Alex thought looked like random button-pushing. The screen showed what looked to Alex like random symbols. "Yes, you're completely human. Twentieth to twenty-first century human, too. The most perfectly bland and healthy purebred human. But no biological matches..."

"So she doesn't exist," Rose interpreted.

"Uh-huh."

From the ramp, Mickey asked, "But what does that mean? She can't just... not exist. She's standing right in front of us."

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets—still bathrobe pockets, mind you—and turned away from the console. "I dunno. There's no family, no records."

Mickey looked thoughtful for a moment. "She coulda been raised off the grid, couldn't she?"

The Doctor gave Mickey a look that was _almost_ disgust. "Of course not! I searched through all of history. You're not going to tell me there's an entire gene pool of humanity that could have avoided having their existence recorded by all means human or alien from the very beginning of recognizable human DNA."

Rose looked at Alex suspiciously. "You're _sure_ you don't remember a thing?"

Alex shook her head. "First thing I remember is running from that ship."

Rose turned to the Doctor. "Do'ya got anything for memory?"

The Doctor ruffled the hair on the back of his head, still in thought. "Well, it depends on what caused it. I have... Well, I have one thing, for brain damage, but if it's deliberate—"

"We gotta try somethin'," Rose insisted. She gestured vaguely at Alex. "Look at her."

Alex swiveled her head in indignation. Look at her? What did she look like?

The Doctor got it. "Right." He patted his chest and seemed to come to the realization that he was still wearing pajamas. "Ah... Jackie," he called.

Jackie straightened. "Yeah?"

"Where's my jacket?"

"You mean the dirty leather one?" She cocked her head at the door. "I threw it in the wash. It didn't have anything important in the pockets, did it?"

The Doctor made a face and looked at Rose. The authority the Doctor had been espousing seemed to suddenly shift into her. "Right then," she said, clapping her hands together. "Mum, they're staying for dinner."

"That's fine with me. Not like that man—" Jackie gesticulated at the Doctor. "—hasn't been taking full advantage of my hospitality all Christmas."

The casual way in which the Tylers invited her into their home felt somehow wrong to Alex, but she didn't complain. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to be. The Doctor told them to be on their way, that he would be after them soon, and Alex followed the rest of them out of the TARDIS and down the street, back to that apartment building where her life had begun.

Jackie talked the whole way, beginning with questions. "What's your favorite Christmas dinner, Alex? I have plans, but I could prob'ly accommodate."

"I don't know."

"Well, do you like turkey at least? 'Cause I don't have ham. Though I could go out if you really hated it. Who knows what sort of apatite the Doctor has now. Maybe I _should_ go out. What do you think, Rose?"

"I dunno, Mum. He's a lot skinnier now."

"Yeah, I suppose. Well, Alex? What do you think of turkey?"

"I don't know."

"Well, do you like it?"

"Probably?"

"Oh, and what about those clothes? Rose, we're gonna have to raid your old wardrobe for her."

"That's fine, Mum."

"I mean look at the state of her! You'd think she found that outfit in a bin! You didn't find them in a bin, did you, sweetheart?" She sounded genuinely worried.

Alex picked at her shirt. It was a forest green sweatshirt, grossly contrast to the grey sweatpants and black sand shoes. It seemed like she'd just put on whatever was warm. "Maybe," she murmured thoughtfully.

"Oh!" Jackie slapped her forehead. "We still need a Christmas tree! Mickey, do you think—"

"On it," Mickey said. "I'll drive out soon as we get there. And I'll see about gettin' that wall fixed."

"Thank you so much. You know what, Rose, why don't you get Alex some clothes, and I'll see about tidying up. There are some extra Christmas decorations still in boxes."

"All right," Rose agreed.

They had reached the apartment now, and Mickey left to get a tree. ("Don't go too pricey!") The apartment itself looked very nice to Alex, barring the one wall that had clearly been ripped apart by something... tree shaped. There were wood chips everywhere.

"C'mon," Rose told Alex, and led her into what she could only assume was the elder girl's bedroom. Alex sat on the bed while Rose went to her closet and started digging out boxes. "You'd tell me if you remembered anything, wouldn't ya?"

"Probably," Alex replied. "I don't see why not."

Rose peaked inside a box, made a face, and pushed it aside. "'Cause you must know me somehow. I mean really, why would you call me a wolf?" She picked up another box, this one marked _Grade 6,_ and plopped it on the bed. She wasn't looking directly at Alex, which, alongside the more relaxed demeanor, made her much easier to talk to.

"I honestly don't know." Alex wrinkled her nose at the pink dress Rose pulled out of the box. It was tossed aside, to the head of the bed. "That's all I have in my head. You're the wolf. I don't know why. What does it mean? 'Bad Wolf'? You mentioned it before."

"Oh, it's just..." Rose pulled out a black long-sleeved shirt with a skull on the back. She quickly tossed it on top of the pink dress. "Long story." Alex stared at her face. She'd thrown away two pairs of ripped pants before noticing. "Well... Okay. You saw those aliens out there, right? The big spaceship, the TARDIS..." Alex nodded. "Well, the TARDIS isn't _just_ a spaceship. The Doctor and I—" She found a baby blue shirt with two green stripes along the bottom, contemplated it, and set it down next to the box. "—have been traveling," she continued. "In time and space. Going on adventures."

Alex's heart jumped to her throat. "Like on different planets?"

"And the past," said Rose, "and the future." Alex's eyes widened. Rose saw this and laughed. "Yeah, it's _pretty_ great." Out the box came some jeans. Alex shook her head. She didn't like jeans. Rose shrugged and tossed them. "So anyway, something happened while we were travelin'. The words 'Bad Wolf' were followin' us all across time, all across space. We didn't know why. What about these?" She was holding a pair of straight auburn pants. There were no pockets. "I hardly ever wore 'em. Thought they made my butt look big... Shame I was so insecure at that age. Ooh, and this." She pulled out a plain teal sweater with thin fabric. Next to the pants, it looked like mild Christmas. She held them up to Alex. "You'd look good in that," she informed her.

"Uh, sure." Alex pulled the shirt down so she could see Rose's face. "But what about Bad Wolf?"

Rose set the clothes on her jean-ed lap. "It was followin' us for ages," she said. "Until finally, just a couple of days ago—"

 _"OH, MY GOD!"_

"Mum?" Rose jumped up at the sound of Jackie's scream. Alex followed, but as soon as they entered the hallway, they were pelted with a whirlwind of dust and splinters. Rose screamed. Alex squeaked and tried to shield her face.

From nearer the door, the sound of a familiar voice came panicking, "Sorry! Sorry, sorrysorrysory."

The whirlwind stopped, and Alex blew some hair out of her face. Her clothes were now peppered with splinters. Rose was trying to brush some of it out of her hair. Jackie stood in the kitchen doorway looking absolutely peeved. Alex thought it was a bit funny with her hair all askew.

"Bit too strong," the Doctor muttered from the door. He was wearing, along with the PJs and bathrobe, a pair of bright red oven mitts, between which he held what looked like a giant lead ball. A pile of dust and wood lay under it. He looked up at the trio with an apologetic grin. "Debris magnet. I have it set to wood. It'll make clean up much eas—"

"No," Jackie said firmly. She knelt to pick up a broom from the floor. "None of that now. You'll just make it worse. If you want to help, use this." She marched over and shoved the broom at him, causing him to have to swing one hand under the ball to take the cleaning tool. "I'll get the vacuum. And while you're at it, I'll get your bloody leather jacket from the wash."

"Bloody?" Alex breathed, eyeing the man.

"It's just an expression, dear," said Jackie. "Where are your clothes?" Alex slowly pointed behind her with one thumb. The Doctor was pulling off his mitts with his teeth while simultaneously attempting to shove the metal ball into his pocket. Jackie nodded at Alex. "Go get dressed then. I'll give you somethin' to do when you get back. Rose..."

Alex backed into the room as Jackie took charge of the house, trying not to look too amused at the situation. She was loving this. She wasn't sure why, but she was absolutely loving this.

Old clothes in Rose's trashcan, Alex tried to shake the last of the wood chips out of her hair before joining the others. The Doctor was blowing a bit of dust in Rose's face, and she was laughing. Jackie scolded him from the kitchen, where Alex could see her with an uncooked turkey still in its wrapping. A garbage bag lay on the floor next to a discarded hand vacuum. Rose was still attempting to get things swept up.

"Alex!" the Doctor exclaimed upon seeing her. He ran into the living room to grab what had to be his leather jacket from the back of a chair. "I got something for you. Annnd... here!" From somewhere in the jacket, he'd pulled a little vial of white liquid. A little shake told Alex it had the consistency of water. "Just sip this up and we'll see if it brings your memory back."

She took it. "And if it doesn't..?"

"Oh, nothing bad will happen," he assured her. "Unless you don't actually have any missing memories, in which case you might develop a little tumor in the left frontal lobe." He waggled a finger at his own head as he spoke.

" _What?"_ Jackie yelped, rushing over to give the Doctor the most intense look Alex had ever seen.

"Oh, it's fine," the Doctor assured her, giving Alex a sidelong glance. "I'm sure she's not lying."

"I'm not," Alex said.

"Good."

"But what if... it still doesn't work?"

"You might feel a bit sick for an hour or two, but that'll be the least of your worries."

"Why?"

He tossed the jacket back into the living room. It missed the chair. "Because that would mean your mind was wiped deliberately, and someone, somewhere, doesn't want you remembering who you are."

The mood seemed to darken for a few moments. Alex swallowed nervously. "O-okay. So I just... Drink it?"

"Yep."

They all stared at her, waiting. Alex felt like she was on display now, and she didn't like it. With a calming breath, she unscrewed the vial and downed the liquid.

"How's it taste?" Rose asked.

Alex licked her lips. "Minty." A tense moment passed. Then another. Then Alex said, "How fast does it work?"

"Should be almost instantly." The Doctor was eyeing her like a potentially disappointing science experiment. She felt like squirming under his gaze. "Is it not doing anything?"

She shook her head.

There was another tense moment.

Then the apartment door flew open, and Mickey walked in with a small, white, artificial tree. "Merry Christmas!" he shouted.

Alex, Rose, and the Doctor didn't respond, but Jackie was there to pick up the mood. "There he is! We could use an extra hand. This lot is useless, I'm tellin' you."

There was a bit of chaos as the tree was moved into the living room. Jackie assigned Alex to decorating, then, as clean up continued, placed a motherly hand on her head. "You'll be all right, darling. The Doctor's always like that. We'll figure it out."

Alex smiled thankfully. Jackie returned to the kitchen, and Alex went to figure out how creative she could possibly get with the box of generic Christmas tree decorations Mickey had brought with him. There were other decorations for the house, strands of beads and tinsel and... an old nutcracker. _Creepy,_ Alex thought, discretely setting it in the center of the dining table. The rest of the decorations got strung up all over the living room by either her or Mickey.

Mickey was nice, she thought. He joked with her as they worked, and he seemed to get along with everyone else, even though the Doctor made fun of him. Alex wasn't sure if he was related to the Tylers or a friend or a boyfriend or what, but she was glad he was there. It made being there less uncomfortable than she felt it should have been.

At one point, Jackie told the Doctor to "Sod off and find some proper clothes before supper's ready," so he disappeared for a bit. By the time he got back, the house was cleaned up and decked out in Christmas hullabaloo. Alex was sitting at the dining table with Rose, observing more than participating as Jackie brought out the turkey (which smelled _amazing_ ) and Mickey went to turn off the Christmas music and replace it with the television that was sat in a comfortably viewable part of the living room. No one seemed to care what was actually on the TV. As of now, it was a shampoo commercial.

Then the door opened, and the Doctor walked in. Alex took her elbow off the table and sat straight up at the sight of him, alarm bells going off in her brain. He was wearing a pinstriped suit and tie under a brown overcoat, his hair brushed up in a funny set of floppy spikes. When everyone noticed he was there, he grinned, and Rose invited him to join the meal. He took off his coat and draped it over the chair across from Alex and Mickey, then sat down and started bantering with Jackie. After a few moments, he noticed Alex staring at him. "What's wrong? Is it something in my teeth?"

Alex blinked. Her eyes went out of focus as she tried to think of what _was_ actually wrong. "I don't... Um..." Everyone was looking at her now. She didn't like that. "I feel kinda sick," she muttered.

"Oh, no." Jackie reached over to put a hand on her forehead. "You're quite warm. I'll get you some water."

"Right." Alex looked at the Doctor again. She had _definitely_ seen him before. With Rose, sure, she was vaguely familiar or something, but now that he'd changed, it was like... "Tip'a my tongue," she murmured quietly, too quietly for anyone to catch, she thought, but—

"Are you remembering something?" the Doctor asked softly.

Jackie came back with a pitcher and a cup of water. Alex drank a bit but had to stop before gagging. Jackie set the pitcher on the table next to the nutcracker. "It's that stuff you gave her, isn't it?" she accused. "You said it could make her sick."

Rose leaned over the table at Alex. " _Are_ you remembering, though?"

Alex tried to remember what she was remembering. Her vision swam. She shook her head and pressed a hand over her mouth. Everyone was staring at her. She hated being the center of attention. She didn't know what her favorite meal was, but she _certainly_ knew that disrupting the joyful mood of the holidays was not something she liked doing. "No," she forced out, swallowing down a wave of nausea. "It's just... a feeling. Nevermind."

No one pushed. Jackie deliberately took the attention away from Alex by launching herself into conversation with everyone else, which was really quite an amazing feat, and the mood lifted a bit.

But Alex couldn't stop bringing her gaze back to the Doctor. He looked _so much more familiar_ now, more than Rose. Maybe she hadn't known him and Rose before, because they certainly didn't recognize her, but she'd seen them. She _must_ have. Maybe it had something to do with Bad Wolf. Maybe she'd somehow been involved in its mystery. She kept a note in her mind to ask Rose again later.

Jackie wasn't happy that Alex couldn't eat anything for a while after the nausea kicked in. She kept bringing it back to the Doctor's "cure" and how they should have waited for after supper, and how there had _better_ be leftovers! Alex managed to get a little down, though, and discovered that she did not, in fact, like turkey.

Then,

"Look, it's Harriet Jones!"

Alex looked up from the Santa figurine she'd got from a cracker to see that the woman who'd blown up the aliens was on the TV. She looked very flustered. The Doctor stood up, pulling a pair of glasses out of his pockets, and stepped closer to watch.

 _"Prime Minister, is it true you're no longer fit to be in position?"_

 _"No. Now, can we talk about other things?"_

 _"Is it true you're unfit for office?"_

 _"Look, there is nothing wrong with my health. I don't know where these stories are coming from!"_

A phone rang in the other room. Jackie got up to get it.

From how intensely the Doctor was watching the TV, Alex wondered if he'd had anything to do with this political crisis.

Jackie came back with a phone to her ear. "It's Beth. She says 'go and look outside.'"

"Why?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. Just go outside and look! Go on, shoo. Coats!"

Everyone scrambled to their feet. The Tylers and Mickey went to get their coats, and Rose gave Alex an old white one that was much too big for her. From the balcony outside, she could see flecks of white in the dark sky. "It's snowing!" Rose laughed. Some people ran past them, eager to get downstairs and see it from the ground. The Tyler-based group hurried after them.

Outside, the ground was covered in a thin sheet of white, reflecting the light of the streetlamps nearby. It looked so different from how it had earlier that day, cloaked in the shadow of an invading spaceship, that Alex thought the feeling of standing out there now was surreal. There was laughter and smiles and the crunch of snow underfoot, and she thought it was brilliant.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Rose gasped, pointing up at the sky. Alex followed her line of sight to the streaks of light raining down and vanishing in the air. "What are they? Meteors?"

"It's the spaceship," the Doctor explained, "breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow. It's ash."

Alex sniffed. There _was_ a distinct... non-freshness.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded back at her. "It'll smell a bit funny for a few days, but you lot should be used to that. Mind you, could make a nice transition. 'Cause this is a brand new planet Earth. No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it."

Alex tried to remember if she'd ever denied the existence of aliens. Nothing came up. It felt perfectly natural.

"Everything's new."

The group had moved unconsciously closer to the TARDIS, which the Doctor had parked in roughly the same spot as earlier. Alex stood a bit behind Rose and him, just ahead of Jackie and Mickey. She watched curiously as Rose avoided eye-contact and asked, "What about you? What are you gonna do next?"

Alex whipped her gaze over to the Doctor. He looked vaguely uncertain, like he was surprised Rose had to ask.

"Well... Back to the TARDIS. Same old life."

"Can I come?" Alex blurted out. The two of them turned to look at her. Her face grew hot. "I mean, Rose was telling me... about the traveling... And if you guys are going to keep doing it, I'd really like to..."

They looked at each other. The Doctor asked, "Are you, though?"

"Yeah," Rose said insistently. "Yeah, of course. If you still... If you still want me."

"You're never gonna stay," said Mickey. "Are you?"

Rose looked at him, hesitating, then said, "It's just so much out there. So much to see. I've got to."

Alex rocked back on her heels, trying to get her attention without speaking. She and the Doctor looked to her again. "Can I see? Just-just one trip."

They looked at each other again. "Maybe..." Rose said quietly.

"Might learn something," the Doctor murmured.

"I'm right here."

"Hold on a minute now," Jackie cut in. "It's one thing if you two want to go looking for trouble, but she's just a child!"

"Am I?" Alex said sharply. Jackie looked startled. Alex was a bit startled herself, but why not get snippy? "Maybe I'm not," she went on. "Maybe... Maybe I'm immortal, or... I have a disease where I can't age or something. I mean, we can't really know, can we? What's the point in staying here being all confused about everything anyway? What if I want to go look for trouble too?"

Rose laughed. Mickey and Jackie looked horrified, but the Doctor seemed pleased. "Now _that_ is the sort of attitude I like. But it's not all trouble, mind you. There's a lot more to it than that." He stepped over and put a hand on Alex's shoulder, gesturing vaguely at the sky with the other. "There's a billion billion worlds to see out there, some peaceful, some not. Some trouble, some not. And, well, does it matter?"

A giggle slipped out of her.

He stepped away and looked at Rose meaningfully. "If you want to bring her along. One trip."

"Or more," Alex added quickly, heart racing.

"Something to the future," he continued. "See if we can't find out who you are."

She was grinning now. "Works for me."

"Sure," Rose said. "Just to find out."

"I'm not sure I'm okay with that," said Jackie.

Alex wanted to say, _You're not my mom,_ but she felt that might stir up some bitterness, so she didn't. Instead, she said, "I gotta find out who I am, don't I? I can't not exist, but here obviously isn't... where I do. Does that make sense?"

Jackie nodded vaguely, like it really didn't.

A few minutes passed, and they stood watching the sky, chatting amongst themselves. Alex didn't really participate in the conversation. She wasn't sure if that was just who she was, or if she just had too little in her head to add anything to it. She knew she liked the idea of space-time travel, though. Her stomach was in knots, but the good kind. She thought of everything she'd seen through that screen on the TARDIS. She wanted to see that up close, the aliens and such. Though maybe it would be best if it wasn't in quite so much of a world-ending situation.

After a while, the Doctor went back into the TARDIS to "park it someplace less conspicuous," and everyone else went inside.

That night, the first night Alex could remember ever going to sleep, she had no dreams.

* * *

 _A/N: Edit- Just to let you know, I'm setting a limitation for myself, not exactly a schedule, of posting no more often than a chapter a month (although not necessarily in a consistent manner). This is to maintain my sanity and my pleasure in writing this story. I hope you understand. But fear not! For every chapter from this point on shall be MUCH longer than this little thing. I'm hoping to average them out at about 10K words or more_


	4. New Earth: An Episode Rewrite

_CW: Body horror (obviously)._

* * *

The next day was another holiday.

Alex had expected to spend all day out with Rose and the Doctor in the TARDIS, time and space and planets and adventures and all that, but Jackie wanted Rose to stay for Boxing Day, so that's what would happen. Alex was a mite disappointed, but she went along with it. She did enjoy listening to the Tylers interact, Jackie's sassy mothering, Rose's... wolfing, so it wasn't all bad. Rose was very confident about absolutely everything, never unsure or upset, though maybe a little bored. Alex wasn't sure whether to be intimidated by it or to try and emulate her behavior. It seemed nice to be confident all the time.

Looking further on the bright side, Alex decided that this day on Earth would be the perfect opportunity to ask Rose to elaborate on Bad Wolf. She kept trying to catch her during lulls in the activity, but it was hard. Jackie wanted to spend the whole day out—some clothes for Alex, some new outfits for herself, some new kitchenware, some electrics, a bit of cheesecake because why not—and she never got the chance. Mickey joined them at one point, but Alex was a bit too flustered by all the bustling about to be sure when it happened.

When they finally got home, things seemed to calm down, but she still couldn't get a moment with Rose. Mickey stuck around, and Alex thought he and Rose were definitely together. Those two flirted a bit, and all four of them spent the evening in a cluster of everyone-together-in-the-living-room. Alex didn't want to disrupt anything, so she didn't end up asking about Bad Wolf at all.

Rose assured her they'd see the Doctor again tomorrow, and they went to bed.

* * *

Alex woke up the next morning to an hour of mothering from Jackie Tyler. First it was breakfast, then it was the pink and blue backpack she'd already packed for her, then it was Rose scolding her mum for the choice of backpack when she _knew_ they had a nice little bee-hive yellow one that would match Alex _way_ better and the flurry over re-packing and "be careful" and "now I have twice as many reasons to kill him." It was overwhelming.

Mickey came over just too late for breakfast. While he was there, he threw around a few halfhearted comments to implicate his disgruntled feelings about Rose leaving again. "I was thinkin' of maybe... this weekend, if you get back in time..." "It's such a nice day out, maybe if..." "...just for a few..." "Hey, did you forget anything? I could go out for..." Alex was impressed at how cool he managed to be about it, and at how easily Rose ignored him. She thought she saw a glimpse of something there, some kind of issue going on beneath the surface, but it probably wasn't any of her business.

The sun was well into the sky when they went to meet the Doctor. He'd moved the TARDIS a few blocks down to a spot just outside an elementary school playground. This must have been the usual place, because Alex couldn't remember him mentioning a specific location before. Jackie gave her and Rose a few last mothery comments, Mickey kissed Rose goodbye, and Alex stiffened when Jackie thought it necessary to give her a hug and a kiss on the top of the head, and they entered the TARDIS.

It was unlocked. Now that Alex was prepared, in a strangely backwards take on expectations, the interior was even more shocking and amazing than the last time she'd seen it. The ceiling seemed to go on forever, but she was certain at the same time that it only went up about thirty feet. There was a ladder that led to a sort of metal loft, but she wasn't sure what its point was. She also noted that she couldn't tell just how far away the walls were. By the door, the Doctor's overcoat lay over one of the coral... things. It looked perfectly at home with the rest of the interior, almost like a hat on a hatstand. Or a coat on a coat rack.

The Doctor noticed her amazement and touched Rose's arm, nodding at Alex. She turned and grinned. Alex flushed and followed her up the ramp, setting down her bag next to where Rose had dropped her own along with the coat she'd worn for the weather. The Doctor discretely flicked at something on the console, and the door, which Alex had forgotten to close, swung shut.

"Nice, isn't it?" the Doctor commented.

"Yeah," Alex managed.

With a grin, the Doctor yanked down on two big levers on the console. The green light in the center column began to move up and down to a groaning, hissing, whirring sound.

Alex felt her stomach lurch. _That sound!_

It was—!

It was...!

She couldn't place it. It didn't make her sick like the sight of the Doctor's outfit had before, but she thought that was probably because the mint stuff was out of her system. This was definitely on-par with the outfit thing. Very déjà vu. He _knew_ it somehow.

The TARDIS lilted to the side. Alex jumped forward to grab hold of the console. Rose and the Doctor grinned with something like ecstatic excitement, and when the Doctor glanced at Alex, she couldn't help but grin back. The tight feeling in her stomach became more of an excited sort of anxiety.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked.

With a fervent grin, the Doctor replied, "Further than we've ever gone before," and leaped around Alex to pull another switch. The TARDIS lurched to the side. It nearly sent the girl flying, but she had a good grip on the rough bottom of the console. "Great for a first adventure!" the Doctor continued. "Not just for you, Alex. For me too. Did I mention? Everything's new for me! Ooh, I can't wait to get out there. Can you push that yellow button there?"

Surprised to be involved, Alex nodded and pressed the button. "Why's it new for you?"

"He's just regenerated," Rose said knowingly as she slipped and caught herself on the railing. There was an awful lot of turbulence.

The Doctor spoke quickly. "It's a thing I do. Something my species does when we're dying—sort of refreshes everything. Clean slate. New man."

"Like—oof." Alex leaned over the console and accidentally hit something. The Doctor rushed over to hit it back. "Sorry. Like reincarnation?"

The TARDIS slowly settled down to a low hum. That noise returned, followed by a sound like a very low ding, and it stopped.

The Doctor looked vaguely perplexed. "Reincarnation. I don't think anyone's compared it to that before. No, not reincarnation," he decided. "But similar, very similar concept. But not at all. Anyway—come on!"

He leapt away from the console and grabbed his coat, slipping it back on as he ran to the door. Rose followed gleefully, and Alex hurried to keep up. They'd just traveled through time! Behind those doors, there could be absolutely anything! When he reached them, the Doctor stepped aside and gestured with one arm, allowing Alex to pass him. She swallowed down an excited giggle and stepped through.

"It's the year five-billion and twenty-three," the Doctor announced, following them out. Alex heard the click of the TARDIS door closing, but it seemed insignificant against what she was looking at. "We're in the galaxy M-87," the Doctor continued. Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. "And this? This is New Earth."

A buzzing sound alerted Alex to the sky above. She looked up and saw the bottom of a red flying car, something shaped like if a modern car was crushed and then smoothed out and had its wheels removed. It whizzed by toward a shining city across the lake before them—a lake that began below the cliff they stood a little ways off from, a cliff that was distantly attached to a shining bridge that crossed the expanse to the city. More cars passed overhead, to and from and around. Behind them, a field of grass stretched on for ages, and there were buildings in the distance, but Alex couldn't quite make them out.

Rose was lost for words. "This is..." She stammered a bit, then gave up and laughed.

"Brilliant," Alex decided. The wind blew her hair over her face, and she pushed it back, breathing deep. She felt lightheaded.

The Doctor seemed to agree with the both of them. "It is something." He grinned. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

"That's amazing." Rose gestured vaguely at the city. "Oh, I'll never get used to this. _Never."_

Alex choked on another excited burst of laughter. She didn't want to let it out, because it felt like it would come out as a squeal or a wordless shout, and she didn't want to draw attention to it. She felt like there was helium in her chest. She was lighter than air. It was _amazing._

Speaking of the air, it smelled very much like apples.

Rose went on, jumping up and down, "Different ground beneath my feet. Different sky!" She sniffed. "What's that smell?"

"Apples?" Alex suggested.

The Doctor knelt and plucked some grass from the ground. "Apple grass," he said, nodding at her and grinning at Rose. He held it under the elder girl's nose for inspection.

"Apple grass," Rose echoed, nodding like she knew what that was, but Alex suspected it was new to her too. "It's beautiful!"

They stood for a moment longer, basking in it. Alex was almost too focused on keeping her excitement down to an acceptable level to notice when the Doctor suddenly grabbed Rose's hand and ran off.

Alex hurried to keep up, gasping in the beautiful apple air. Some other smells carried in the wind: Wood like in a forest, something clean like a furniture store, and a bit of something chemical, but not unpleasant. It had definitely rained recently, too. Maybe sensory memories were different from conscious memories, because she was absolutely certain of that fresh rain smell.

The Doctor fell into a roll and landed on the grass with one side of his coat spread out next to him. Rose laughed, and he laughed back, patting the coat. Rose gasped dramatically. "Don't mind if I do," she said, and plopped herself down like the coat was a picnic blanket.

There was no room for Alex, but she didn't want to make a fuss, so she hopped over and sat on the grass on the Doctor's other side. He glanced at her, and she thought his expression was approving, maybe even grateful. She decided to interpret it as something like, _Sorry. Thanks for being so sporting about it._

They all lay back. The grass felt amazing under Alex's fingers and the back of her head. The sky was a bluer blue than she had ever seen, although she may have been a bit biased, having not seen any. A breeze swept some watery smells over them, and she again closed her eyes for a deep breath.

"So," the Doctor began, "the year five-billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted."

"That was our first date," Rose joked.

"We had chips," the Doctor agreed, voice high with mirth.

Alex chose not to comment on that, but she couldn't help remembering the way Mickey had acted before, and how he and Rose had kissed multiple times over the course of the past day. Maybe it was a British thing.

"So anyway," the Doctor continued, "planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. As soon as the Earth burns up—oh, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement..." The way he talked, it sounded like he didn't approve of the nostalgia. Alex wondered why, but he didn't go into it. Instead, he suddenly sat up. Rose followed suit, and he went on, "They find this place. Same size as the Earth. Same air. Same orbit—lovely! Call goes out, the humans move in."

Alex asked, "How long 'til they pollute it all up?"

The Doctor sent a scornful glance her way. "Cheerful, are you?"

Her face reddened. "Sorry, just curious."

He turned back to the city, and Alex sat up to see it.

"You get better about it," the Doctor replied finally. "Learned your lesson after the Great Smog."

"The Great Smog," Rose echoed.

"Yeah, but that's a whole... thing. New Earth is a lot nicer, least as far as I know. Even with all the polluting—that never stops—terraforming, air filters, all that jazz... They got it figured out now. Places like this? They'll never go away, not completely. You lot _love_ nature."

Alex laughed through her nose and stretched her hands out against the ground behind her. The grass continued to feel amazing. "I love this," she said. She looked at him. "Thank you."

The Doctor's smile somehow managed to widen again. "Don't mention it."

Rose pointed out at the buildings across the water. "What's the city called?"

"New New York," the Doctor answered.

"Oh, come on."

"It is! It's the city of New New York! Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original... so that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York."

Alex tried to remember what was so special about the original New York. It was certainly a thing in her head, the name of the city: "New York." She knew it was American, and she knew that it housed a statue of a green woman called the Statue of Liberty. She had those basic facts just like she had the basic fact in her head of the Earth and humanity being a thing that existed, but she didn't know anything else about it. The way Rose laughed made her think it must have been a pretty big deal back on Earth. (Not to mention the fact that there had been fifteen since the original.)

"You're so different," Rose told the Doctor.

"New New Doctor," he joked.

They laughed, and Alex kept quiet—not because she didn't have anything to say (not that she did), but because she felt like that was a private matter between them. Whatever regeneration was, it seemed to be a big deal. Alex would have bet anything that it was what made the Doctor act so erratic and strange back when he first woke up on the TARDIS. He was much calmer now.

After a few minutes, Rose asked, "Can we go visit 'New New York,' so good they named it twice?"

The adults stood up. Alex reluctantly followed, brushing apple grass out of her hair and off her pants. It was a good thing they were black, or it might have left an unforgivable stain. Her off-white shirt on the other hand... Oh, she hoped Jackie wouldn't be mad.

"I thought we might go _there_ first," the Doctor said, nodding at a large set of buildings on their side of the lake. It was a bit more futuristic than the other buildings, silver and slick and not quite symmetrical with a realistically-shaped crescent moon on the side.

"Why? What is it?" Rose asked. At the same time, Alex asked, "Why come?"

"Some sort of hospital." The Doctor shrugged his coat back on properly. "Green moon on the side. That's the universal symbol for hospitals. I already thought this would be a good time to take Alex. There's, um, gotta be records of the whole of the human race, and a hospital is a great place to start—but also..." He dug something out of his pockets: A little leather flip-book with a single piece of paper inside. Leaning close, Alex saw that some words were scrawling themselves out as if by an invisible hand.

 _Ward 26_

 _Please come_

"Message on the psychic paper," the Doctor announced. "Someone wants to see me." He pocketed the psychic paper and grinned that wild grin of his at Rose. "Two birds with one stone. What do you think?"

Despite the fact that he wasn't looking at her, Alex nodded. "Efficient."

Not to mention, she noted internally as they began to walk toward the futuristic structure, it was something to satisfy her curious taste for adventure. What sort of psychic alien being wanted to see the Doctor? And what were they doing in a hospital? Her tongue tingled with anticipation.

The walk to the hospital was almost worth an entire trip on its own. Alex couldn't remember a more pleasant—well, okay, she couldn't remember anything, but it was very nice. The hospital from close up was absolutely _enormous,_ probably bigger than any single building in New New York, though that was just Alex guessing. Flying cars had been parked on one side at various levels of elevation around the hospital, which seemed a bit strange since there didn't appear to be any doors above the first floor. Inside, there was movement, but it was the calm, slow movement of a... well, a hospital.

As they approached, the Doctor let out a violent shiver.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Hospitals," he offered as explanation.

The revolving doors unleashed on them a very, _very_ clean odor, sanitary and polished. Alex could almost _smell_ her ghostly reflection in the glass of the inner doors.

"You don't like hospitals?" she asked the Doctor indignantly. He shivered again as they passed through the next set of doors and into an even thicker air of artificial cleanliness. It wasn't a _bad_ smell, just jarringly different from outside.

"Bit rich," Rose said, "coming from you."

"I can't help it! I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps."

Alex thought of something she couldn't keep to herself. "Is that new? Like a new new Doctor thing?"

The Doctor laughed a bit. "Well, maybe. I suppose, probably, yes."

The interior of the hospital, aside from the slick smell, was very polished architecturally. The floor was smooth and shiny, but their footsteps didn't make a whole lot of noise. Banners of translucent plastic hung along on either side of the walkway perpendicular to the entrance, there was a cozy-looking resting center a little ways ahead of them, and the walls were a fancy combination of wood, plaster, and metal. A little ways down, a sort of nook opened up under the wooden wall to the right, and Alex could see what looked like futuristic doors... or maybe just elevators.

People walked by them in small groups of one or two or three. The hospital was by no means empty, but it was big enough that no one had to crowd around each other. A lot of these people were wearing white robes with hoods that Alex felt she should know the name of. They walked gracefully, almost saintly, like... Nuns! That was it. They looked like nuns. Proud of herself for remembering that small descriptive detail, Alex glanced at one's face and choked.

It was a cat.

The nun's face was that of a tabby cat's, only in a slightly flatter, more humanoid form. The cat woman noticed her gaze and nodded. Alex forced a smile and nodded back, then picked up the pace to keep up with the Doctor and Rose.

That was probably normal.

"Very smart," Rose said quietly. She leaned close to the Doctor. "Not exactly NHS."

"No little shop," the Doctor complained. "I like the little shop."

"Do hospitals usually have little shops?" Alex asked. She moved past Rose and skirted a long, curved bench.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied with a grin. He stopped for a moment. "Most places do. Museums, libraries, hospitals, all that stuff. It's cozy."

"Companies squeezin' the last drop'a cash outta their customers? Cozy? That _has_ to be new." Rose hummed with laughter and spun in place just behind them. "I thought this far in the future they'd have cured everything."

The Doctor nodded passively and turned to keep walking. "The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. An ongoing war."

Rose jogged to catch up, only to pause when one of the cat nuns had to dodge around her. She pointed at the nun vaguely, giving Alex a shocked look, like, _Did you see that?_ Alex nodded, grinning. The Doctor turned back as Rose whirled on him and whispered, "They're cats!"

"Now, don't stare. Think what you must look like to them, all pink and yellow." The Doctor held a straight face, but there was a spark of amusement in his eyes.

Alex glanced around at the other hospital inhabitants. There were a few humans walking to and fro, and a couple sitting on a nearby bench, but the majority of passersby were those cat nuns. Trying not to stare at anyone in particular or speak too loud, she asked, "How come they've evolved to look like humanoid versions of non-human Earth animals?"

"Ward twenty-six, thanks."

Alex spun around to find that the Doctor and Rose had moved on ahead of her. They were standing in one of the elevators, and the wooden doors were beginning to close. "Whoa—wait!" She ran forward. Rose put her hand in the way of the doors, but they didn't stop, and she pulled her hand back in with a yelp.

From the other side, Alex heard her complain, "Can't you hold elevator doors anymore?" The Doctor said something back, but his voice was low, and the vibrations didn't travel through.

Alex glanced around. There was another elevator right next to that one. "What floor is it?" she called.

The Doctor responded, "Ward twenty-six! Ask for ward twenty-six!"

There was a little button between the doors. Alex pressed it and waited as the machinery whirred inside the walls. She didn't like being left alone in a place like this, but she was determined not to show it.

The Doctor called something else from their elevator. Alex couldn't quite tell what it was. She hoped it wasn't anything important.

The doors opened. Alex stepped inside. Remembering what the Doctor had done, she said, "Ward twenty-six, thanks," as confident and clear as she could. The doors closed, and she was left in the tiny lit space of the elevator. It was a nice little room. The smell of sanitation was _much_ stronger in here. Alex was just wondering about that when soft alarm bells and a robotic feminine voice came through unseen speakers in the walls.

" _Commence stage one disinfection."_

 _PSHH_

Faucets in the walls and ceiling blasted the room. Alex jumped and squeaked, then tried to keep very still. This wasn't water, whatever it was. It was some sort of cleaner. Going by the smell, it was the same cleaner whose smell permeated the building. The voice made her think it was normal, but why would the hospital let its visitors go around all wet? As if in answer to her unspoken inquiry, the liquid stopped, and a puff of powder filled the room. Alex coughed and gasped when a blast of warm air came flooding into the elevator from everywhere at once. By the time she reached her floor, Alex was completely dry, and she felt cleaner than she'd ever been. (Well, as far as she remembered, anyway.) She stepped out of the elevator and immediately scanned for the Doctor and Rose. They had to have waited for her, right?

The first thing Alex noticed was that the architecture down here was very different from the sleek, polished look upstairs. It looked like an unfinished basement. There were pipes and cables and bits of scrap metal and a puddle nearby that smelled of something less than sanitary. Something green clung to the concrete walls, but it was too dim to tell if it was supposed to be there. The elevator doors behind Alex looked to have been put in as an afterthought, or as a forethought that never came to fruition. They were very out of place. The Doctor and Rose were not, in fact, down here. It didn't seem like _anyone_ was down here, and Alex decided very quickly that she wasn't supposed to be here. She turned to leave, but the elevator doors had already closed. Good thing there was a button down—

"The human child is clean."

Alex jumped at the voice. She turned and saw, some ways down the dimly lit hallway, a lone man. He seemed bald, and he had some kind of red markings on his face. He wore loose, white clothing like he might have been a patient. He smiled. Alex slammed her hand on the elevator button. The doors opened. She rushed inside to the sound of a panicked, "W-wait!" and called, "Ward twenty-six! Close the doors!"

The doors zipped shut just in time to prevent the small man from running in after her. The elevator began its ascent, and Alex backed into the far wall, taking in long, slow breaths to calm her suddenly speedy heart.

There was a little ping, and that voice came over the speakers again. _"The Sisters of Plenitude would like to remind lift-users with claustrophobia, heart conditions, and anxiety disorders of the emergency command, 'nine.' Please do not hesitate to use it if necessary."_

The soothing voice calmed Alex's nerves. She exhaled slowly. It was fine; that was nothing. It wasn't like a monster had jumped out at her or anything. She scolded herself for letting this one strange event faze her, then got to thinking. Her first thought: No way was that man supposed to be down there. Since the request to go to Ward 26 had the elevator moving _up_ this time, Alex could only assume that someone—that man, or maybe someone he was with—had messed with it to bring her down. The idea gave her chills.

Thought two: The Doctor would probably want to know about this.

The elevator came to a halt. Alex watched the doors, and she was just thinking they should have opened by now when the elevator started down again. It took all of three seconds for the implications to go through her head, then another half a second to remember what that voice had just told her. She screamed, "Nine!"

The elevator stopped again. The lights turned a soft shade of blue. _"Your emergency has been noted. Please select a destination. You will be taken there with efficiency and care. If desired, our officials can be with you shortly."_

"Ward _twenty-six,"_ Alex demanded. "Take me to ward _twenty-six._ Up, not down. UP."

The elevator started again, but just as soon as it had, the lights turned white again, and it switched directions. Alex staggered. " _Nine,"_ she called again.

The elevator stopped. The light turned blue. " _Your emergency has been noted. Please select a destination. You will be taken there with efficiency and care. If desired, our officials can be with you shortly."_

Alex tried to think fast. "Take me to the nearest floor. Can you understand that? Get me out of— _whoa."_

The floor lurched down about an inch, and the doors opened. Alex rushed out just as the elevator began to move without waiting for the doors to close. She turned and watched it disappear. _Not taking that again._

She swiveled her head to get a view of her new surroundings. It was an empty white hallway, clean and pristine, nothing like that dirty basement. Just one thing stood out, and that was the open stairwell build conveniently next to the elevators. The number _12_ was stamped into the wall between them, and beside that, to her relief, Alex found a small map. After reading it, she was hit with another wave of relief, for she would have otherwise assumed Ward 26 was on the twenty-sixth floor. As it happened, it was on the twentieth.

Alex climbed the stairs, contemplating what she'd tell Rose and the Doctor when she got back to them... and whether or not she could trust the nuns.

By the time she got to Ward 26, Alex's legs were beginning to feel stiff. She paused in the entrance to rub her thighs and take stock. Most of Ward 26 was taken up by various curtained-off beds with patients that didn't look quite human. A wall of windows took up the back of the room. Alex didn't see Rose or the Doctor.

She started in and was immediately stopped by a nun.

"Can I help you, miss?" the woman asked. She sounded apprehensive.

Alex decided the best way to confront this was with a smile. "Yeah, are the Doctor and Rose here?"

The nun raised her eyebrows. "Ah, I see. Alex, is it? They were looking for you. This way."

She turned and led Alex toward the back of the room. Alex tried not to be too conspicuous, but she couldn't help glancing at a few patients on the way. There was one woman with a strange growth on her neck, a man with cracked purple skin, and what looked like a butterfly cocoon wrapped in blankets. Alex wondered if it would be rude to ask what was wrong with them.

"Alex! There you are."

Alex hadn't realized just how tense she'd been until she caught sight of the Doctor's smiling face, and the tension melted away. He wasn't wearing his overcoat anymore, but he looked just as comfortably familiar in his pinstripe suit. Rose turned from what looked like a large aquarium and waved at Alex.

"Thanks for bringing her, matron," the Doctor said to the cat lady. He inclined his head politely. She bowed back and retreated, leaving them alone with the aquarium and another silent nurse standing by. Alex smiled in greeting, and she nodded. The Doctor turned on Alex. "Where'd you run off to?"

Alex pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "The elevator went to the basement."

The Doctor gave a little nod, but he didn't seem to think this was significant. He gestured at the tank. "This is who left us the psychic message. Alex of Earth, meet the Face of Boe."

For the first time, Alex looked directly at the tank, and she nearly choked on her next breath. Inside was a big, red, wrinkly old face. Tentacles sprouted out somewhere behind it, moving sluggishly through the foggy air inside. The face itself was... a face. Her mind just went entirely blank; all she could think to say was, "Face."

Rose giggled.

"Oi," the Doctor chided. "Don't you be rude now. The Face of Boe is a very widely respected... face."

"He's ancient," Rose explained. "Millions of years old—"

"That's just a rumour," the nurse piped up. Alex realized she must have been attending the Face. "Keep in mind. Best not spread ideas we're unsure of."

"Right," Rose said. "Anyway, he was on Platform One when—did we tell you? The Doctor and I went to watch the Earth blow up in the year five _billion_. That was, what, twenty...?"

"Twenty-six years ago," the Doctor said.

"Yeah. And all these rich, important aliens were there, and—blimey, this was ages ago." Rose grinned. "Not twenty-six years, mind you. Not for us. Anyway, the Face of Boe was there. We saved his life."

"Oh." Alex nodded her approval. Life saving was good. "Is he asleep?"

"Mostly," the Doctor replied. He stared down at the Face of Boe. There was something in the Doctor's eyes that Alex hadn't seen before. Admiration? Respect? "Whatever the stories say, he's very old."

"Yeah," Rose said quietly.

"He doesn't have long," the Doctor murmured.

Alex nodded again, trying not to seem too put off by this revelation. Impending death... That made her uncomfortable. She had to change the subject. "So... why did he call you here?"

The Doctor half-shrugged. "I don't know. Novice Hame?"

The nun shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know either. We didn't even know he had sent for anyone before you came here."

Rose pressed a fist against the corner of her mouth. "You think it was somethin' important?"

"A wanderer," the Doctor murmured. He was silent for a few moments before turning suddenly to Alex. "Did you say you went to the _basement?"_

Alex glanced at Novice Hame. "Uh, yeah."

Rose lowered her hand. "You did tell it to take you to ward twenty-six, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor studied Alex, which made her somewhat uncomfortable, but she refused to show it. After a moment, he looked at Rose and jerked his head to motion them toward the windows at the end of the room. When they got over there, Alex couldn't help but pause to admire the view. She could see the apple grass field from here, but before she could try and spot the TARDIS, the Doctor asked, "What happened?"

"The..." Alex tore her eyes away from the window. "Right, sorry. There—there's someone down there." She lowered her voice and explained how the elevator—or the _lift,_ as Rose was quick to correct, and Alex immediately felt silly about—had been tampered with.

"So you took the stairs up eight floors," Rose deduced. "Blimey, no wonder you took so long."

"Did the man say anything?" the Doctor asked. "Anything to indicate who he was? A name, or... I don't know, did he call you anything?"

Alex thought about it. "He said 'the human child is clean.'"

"'The human child,'" Rose repeated. "So someone... not human. Right?"

"Possibly," said the Doctor. "Or..."

"Or..." Rose prompted. When the Doctor didn't answer, she smiled a mischievous smile. "Got an idea?"

He grinned. "Not a clue. Come on, let's check it out." The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and speed-walked away. Alex ran to keep up. When they reached the elevators, he pressed the button and turned to the girls. "Right," he began, a gleam in his eye. "Bit of a crash course for Alex. When dealing with the potentially dangerous unknown—"

"Ooh!" Rose bounced in place, raising her hand like a kid in class. "I know this one." The Doctor nodded at her, and she pointed at him. "Always ask questions."

"Good." The Doctor nodded again, this time in approval. "But I was thinking of something a bit more relevant: Never wander off on your own."

"Unless you _really_ want to."

The elevator doors ( _Lift,_ Alex reminded herself) slid open.

" _No,"_ the Doctor countered. He stepped through the doors. The girls followed. "Do _not_ wander off. Ask the right questions, find things out, get to the bottom of the mystery!" Rose giggled. The doors shut. "But don't wander off—ah, floor B-one, if you please."

There was a soft _bing,_ but the lift didn't move.

"Basement?"

Another bing. No movement.

"Floor zero."

 _Bing._

Nothing.

"Hmm." The Doctor sighed and reached into his suit pocket. "Suppose it wouldn't be visitor-friendly." He took out a tiny metal rod with a blue tip. When he pointed it at the wall next to the door, it emitted a blue light and began buzzing softly.

"What's that?" Alex asked.

"Sonic screwdriver. There we go!" An invisible panel on the wall slid open to reveal a row of buttons. The Doctor nodded at it. "Audio controls can't accommodate everybody. I imagine they give mute patients and visitors some kind of identification to trigger this. Now if I can... ah _ha!"_ He turned off the sonic screwdriver as a newer, smaller panel opened up beneath the first. It consisted of six red buttons, all labeled with some strange symbols Alex didn't recognize. The Doctor grinned at Rose, clearly very proud of himself. "Staff only."

Rose clapped her hands together. "Brilliant. Which one's basement?"

"Dunno. I guess, logically speaking, the lowest floor would be..." He twirled one finger around the buttons, then pressed the uppermost left. "This one."

The eleva—the _lift,_ Alex reminded herself again; she wanted to adapt to their vocabulary—immediately started moving. Rose and the Doctor beamed at each other. Their joy was contagious; Alex began to get excited again. A minute or so later, the doors opened, and the trio stepped out.

"This the place?" the Doctor asked, swaying from side to side as he observed their new surroundings.

The lift had dropped them off in a poorly lit metallic corridor. The walls were made of metal, the floor clanged beneath their feet, and there were some oddly placed handrails a few yards down. Adding to the atmosphere, their level of vision appeared to be thanks to some green lights in the ceiling.

"No." Alex shook her head. "That was all concrete."

"Really." The Doctor moved over to a sort of metal box on the wall, took out his screwdriver, and buzzed it. It opened to reveal some wiring and switches. Rose stepped up behind him; Alex followed. "Ooh," the Doctor cooed, holding up a clump of wires with two fingers. He nodded at the space behind it. "Look at this."

Rose leaned in so Alex couldn't see what they were looking at. "'Life support.' Why's there a big off-on switch for life support?"

"I dunno." The Doctor examined the contents of the box a moment longer, then added, "But I'd like to find out."

Alex wanted to ask if they were going to try more elevator buttons, but the Doctor clearly had other plans, and he was serious now. Shutting the box, he led the way down the corridor, Rose at his side, Alex at his heels.

"D'you think it's the nuns?" Rose asked. "It's got to be, hasn't it?"

"Either that or their superiors," the Doctor agreed. "If it's related to what Alex saw... Well, they can't have good intentions, whatever they're doing. Did the man look human?"

Alex took a moment to realize he was talking to her. "Oh, yeah. I mean, he _looked_ human..."

"But..."

"He had these weird... patterns on his face."

The Doctor paused at the end of the corridor. To the left, it continued on, the same as behind; to the right, it went on for a few feet before ending in a grated stairwell. "Distinctive?" the Doctor asked.

Alex tried to bring the image to mind. "They were... red... Sort of... flowery? I don't know."

"Maybe tattoos?" Rose suggested.

"Mm." The Doctor didn't seem convinced. "Well, you'd usually only find concrete at the bottom of a building, so..." He smiled at Rose. "Let's say we get a proper look."

Rose grinned, and they made a beeline for the stairs. They didn't meet anyone on the way down, but Alex was beginning to feel like she was being watched. It didn't help that there were no lights when they reached the bottom.

"Bit dark," Rose murmured.

There was a little buzz, and the blue of the sonic screwdriver lit up the space just long enough for the Doctor to find a light-bulb hanging from the ceiling. He pointed his tool at it, and it flickered on. In its dim but adequate lighting, the first thing Alex saw was the egg-shaped crevice in the concrete wall across from them. For a moment, she wasn't sure what she was looking at. It was almost as though her brain was refusing to comprehend what it was. She squinted, then recoiled. In the way of verbal reactions, the most articulate thing she could think to say was "Ah."

Rose turned to look and gasped. "Oh my God."

"That's a bit blunt," the Doctor muttered.

They were looking at a human corpse. Well, Alex _thought_ it was human, anyway. Its arms were caught up over two metal bars, where the rotting remains of its flesh had fallen over them like butter on a knife. Strands of hair coated in what might have been old blood clung to its forehead. The whole thing was blood-brown and grey like old beef and dressed in what might have once been a hospital gown.

"That's awful..." Rose murmured. She glanced down at Alex. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Alex said, and she was surprised at how convincing she sounded. Even more surprising: It was the truth. "That smell, though."

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Rot. Decay. A little bit of shampoo. And something else..." He opened his mouth like a cat, tasting the air. "Mm... Old sick. Oh."

"What?" Rose and Alex asked at once

The Doctor pointed to his left. The room opened there into a dirty hallway made up of pipes, broken bits of metal, more dim lighting, and some out-of-place lifts on the left wall _._ "Look familiar?" he asked.

For a moment, Alex thought he was referring to the area—to which she would have responded "yes"—but then she realized he was pointing at a figure some ways down the hall, hidden mostly in shadows. She couldn't make out much, but the person was definitely wearing a hospital gown, and that hunched over posture was familiar enough. "Yep," she replied.

The Doctor stuffed his hands in his pockets and started forward. "Hello," he called. The man responded by darting out of sight. The Doctor paused. "Well, that was rude." He started off again, and the girls followed. Alex was feeling a bit apprehensive in the aftermath of seeing that body, but the Doctor was present, so she wasn't _too_ afraid.

At the end of the hall, a curtain of more translucent hanging plastic blocked the way to the next room. Alex saw a shape behind it that she thought she should recognize, and a sound like an old movie. The distant, muffled voices spoke as though in casual conversation. Someone laughed, and more voices laughed with them. The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Rose, then he pushed through, and they stepped into the room.

Immediately before them stood a _very_ old fashioned projector, film reel exposed as it projected its film onto a bit of wall to the right of the entrance. It showed what looked like a party, but the rich person kind with fancy dresses and champagne. The camera was focused on a blonde woman with sharp blue eyes, far too much makeup, and a generally pinched face. She was talking nonsense and flirting with the others onscreen.

"Hold on," Rose murmured, pointing at the image. "That's—"

"Cassandra," the Doctor growled, and Alex turned her head so fast she thought she heard a _crack._

There, across the room, facing the projected film, held together in a metal frame that looked far too filthy for the job, was a stretched rectangle of living skin. Veins and arteries pulsed visibly, grotesquely, pumping what must have been blood (or a close approximation) from some tubing in the frame. Below the skin, a tank rested with what was unmistakably a brain floating inside. In roughly the center of the skin, maybe a little bit toward the top, was a smiling face with the same eyes and pinched look as the woman onscreen, sans the sharp nose—although Alex could imagine one easily from the way the thing held its mouth.

This was definitely not just some alien. This was unnatural. Alex was... intrigued. Uncomfortable, yes, but intrigued.

"Hello, whoever you are," the skin cooed. "And Rose Tyler. Oh, it's been so long. You're looking... young." The voice was bitter, and Alex wondered two things: Where Rose and the Doctor had met this thing before, and where its voice was actually coming from. "Though not the youngest!" the skin went on. It smiled at Alex, who instinctively shifted her weight so the Doctor's right arm was between her and its gaze. "Aww, don't be shy, dear. If you knew who I was—"

"You're a murderer is what you are," Rose accused. "How are you even here? You should be dead!"

"'Should be.'" Cassandra scoffed. "I am ever a survivor, my dear girl. My brain was preserved."

The Doctor let out a sudden guffaw. "Oh, now, don't tell me. This new skin—it's from your old body, isn't it? The last pure human—of course you'd never take anything lesser than yourself. And if you used the front half before..."

"Oh my God," Rose laughed. "Cassandra's talkin' out of her ass!"

"Insolent," Cassandra grumbled. As an aside, she added in an impatient mutter, "Chip, moisturize me, moisturize me."

There was movement, and Alex's attention was brought to the man from before, now stationed meekly behind a bit of vertical pipes. He wore a sort of bandanna on his head, so what Alex had previously thought was balding may have simply been hair covered in fabric. The markings on his face were not, in fact, tattoos, but branding, harsh red protruding from the skin as permanent scars in fancy, swirly, dotted patterns. He reminded her of a mouse, which was something of a victory, she thought, but not exactly flattering to the man.

He picked up a large water bottle and started spraying the skin.

"Chip," the Doctor echoed. "That's cute. Where'd you get him?"

"Oh, I made him myself." The skin smiled. "He's a force-grown clone. I modeled him after my favorite pattern."

"Interesting," the Doctor murmured. He stepped closer to examine the little man. "Wasn't that outlawed a few hundred years ago? The God-Playing Act?"

"The Godless Children Act," Cassandra corrected. "They brought it up all over the empire, but it's only a law in the original Earth Solar System, and... Well, we know what happened to that." She paused, and Chip backed away, still holding the bottle. "You seem to know quite a lot. Who are you, anyway? Tyler's new boyfriend? I must say, it is an improvement."

"Thanks," the Doctor replied. "So what are you _doing_ in this hospital?"

"If you'd have let me finish." Cassandra sniffed, though Alex couldn't quite tell how. "Chip, my faithful servant, whisked me away from Platform One after the disaster. Alas, a hospital is the only place I can survive, so he brought me here, keeps me alive."

"Chip steals medicine," said Chip, clearly proud of himself.

"Oh!" the Doctor barked, and Alex thought Chip looked miffed. "So you're just a common criminal! Mind you, I'm not against stealing from corporations as a principle. Sometimes, well, poverty and all that—but this is really pathetic for _you_ , Cassandra."

The skin sighed. "This really is a nuisance. Chip, remind me to have you lock the elevator doors next time we kidnap someone."

Alex frowned, conflicted on whether to feel nervous or annoyed. "Why would you want to kidnap _me?"_

"She speaks!" the skin yapped joyfully. "I was beginning to think this one was a mute. Though that wouldn't be too much of a problem... unless it was some sort of damage, but ah, listen to me ramble. What's your name, dear?"

"I think I asked my question first," Alex shot back, but her voice shook.

"What, my motives? Oh, it's nothing," the skin purred. "Well, maybe a little something, but it's a bit personal. Why don't you step closer, and I'll tell you quietly so these two can't hear?"

Alex took a reflexive step back.

"That's just creepy," Rose muttered. "What do you want with her?"

"Only what I deserve," Cassandra growled. "Chip, the electrofield."

Before anyone could do anything, Chip leaped to the wall perpendicular to his mistress and slapped a hand on a button. The Doctor spun around in alarm. Alex almost turned to look behind her, but something froze her to the spot; a series of orange lights shot out of the walls on either side of the entryway and latched themselves to her lower arms. She yelped and tried to pull away, but it held her fast.

"We can't have that," the Doctor growled. Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he stepped forward and pointed it at the wall to Alex's left. The force on her started to melt away.

"Activate the psychograft!" Cassandra called gleefully.

The Doctor faltered. "The _what?"_

"No you don't!" Rose ran to stop Chip, but he'd already pulled a switch by the first button. A blue light beamed down from the ceiling, blinding Alex. She managed to tug her left arm free, but she couldn't make heads or tails of her surroundings, and her right arm was still stuck.

For a few seconds, it felt like gravity had flipped, that Alex was clinging to the ceiling with her toes. She gasped, there was a flash of violet light, and then she fell.

* * *

Alex didn't remember losing consciousness, nor did she remember opening her eyes, but she was on the ground now, and her eyes were open. Her vision was a blur. Her lips moved, and her throat vibrated, but no sound came out. It felt like a huge weight was pressing down on her, a sensation that threatened to put a crack in her skull and crush her lungs.

A voice broke through the fog. "Ergh, _no._ What have you done?"

"Ensured the mistress's freedom," came another.

Alex blinked. She could see clearer now. She had one arm pressed against the ground, like she'd just begun to push herself off it. Her nose for some reason seemed to take up too much of her line of sight. She tried to remember... What had... Something had gone wrong.

Someone knelt next to her and grabbed her shoulder. "Alex." It was Rose. Alex got a sick, uncomfortable feeling in her stomach when she looked at her. "Are you all right?"

"She can't answer you," the Doctor muttered angrily. Alex looked up and saw him standing over them, a look on his face that terrified her more than anything she could remember.

"Th-the Doctor," she murmured. It felt wrong, though, almost like that feeling of moving your arm when it falls asleep, like she hadn't quite meant to do it, and like the movements were just a little bit... off. She scrambled back and stood up, pointing at him accusingly. "You're the Doctor."

Rose slowly got to her feet. "Yes, of course he's the Doctor."

"The _same_ Doctor?"

Rose's face was twisted into a look of utter confusion. She glanced behind her, back at the metal frame for the skin. Confused, she called, "Cassandra?"

The frame was empty. There was blood on the floor, as well as bits of old skin. It must have dissolved, or maybe burst? Alex had no idea why or what would have caused it. She was feeling dizzy. She wasn't sure why she'd said what she did, or why she was staring at the Doctor like he'd killed her family. Yet despite her confusion, she responded to Rose's call. "Why yes. I don't suppose you'd have heard of a psychograft before, what with you being a... plebeian."

Rose turned to her in horror, and Alex began to feel like she understood what was wrong. _Psycho_ , Cassandra had said. That meant something like _brain_ didn't it? And graft—she knew that word, just on the tip of her tongue. Wasn't that when you cut a piece off of something and stuck it on something else? She tried to ask, "What happened?" but her lips didn't move. Her voice didn't vibrate.

She was not in control.

The voice that had come out of her mouth before had been her own, but it didn't _sound_ like her. The accent was different. It was fancy and proper and very, _very_ British, at least as far as her vague understanding went. She was feeling very similar to how she had felt in the moments after the invading aliens had been destroyed back on Earth. Just like then, she felt that something was very wrong, and that she should be very afraid, but she couldn't bring herself to be... except of the Doctor. She was feeling very afraid of the Doctor.

Rose pointed at her in disbelief. "She _possessed_ her?"

"'Fraid so," the Doctor replied. He fiddled with the screwdriver in one hand. "Uh—psychografts, they're very rare in this day and age, very _illegal._ I'm not sure how Cassandra got her hands on one, but this one's broken."

"So we can't reverse it."

"Not until I fix it."

"Oh, I'll be long gone by then," came out of Alex's mouth. Her feet began moving backwards, and she turned, but the Doctor darted forward and snatched her arm.

The first thing she felt was the pain of the grip—that would leave a bruise later for sure. Then there was a twinge somewhere in her mind. The pressure increased, and her skull _crack_ ed.

" _Everything has its time and everything dies."_

It was a voice, something new, something she'd never heard before, but it was a terror to hear again. For a moment, she saw the shimmering form of a middle-aged man in a leather jacket, Rose by his side, both looking vaguely disgusted. Then it was gone, and Alex somehow knew that it hadn't been her thought. Cassandra's mind, pressing onto hers, had leaked into it, and it _hurt._

"You're not going anywhere," the Doctor told her. "But as long as you're still alive, why don't we have a little chat? It's in your best interest. You tell us what you've been doing in this hospital, and you get to live just a little bit longer."

He yanked on her arm, and she yelped as he dragged her over to the raised floor by the empty metal frame. He dragged her down and sat her on it, kneeling now with his hands on her forearms. Behind him, Alex saw Rose holding Chip's arms behind his back.

"You're hurting the mistress," Chip snarled. He struggled against Rose, but he must have been very weak, because she didn't seem to have trouble keeping him under control.

The Doctor looked back at him sharply. "Your _mistress_ is hurting _her._ Now." He turned back to Alex. She still felt as though something had hooks in her brain, but there was room for the gut-fear that intense gaze poured into her. She squirmed internally. The Doctor's eyes softened. "I'm so sorry, Alex," he said. "But we need to know what's going on. Cassandra, tell me: What did you do to that man in the other room?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alex sniffed haughtily, and she had to remind herself that it was Cassandra talking. "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Why?"

"Well, I do have something to discuss with you, but if you're not going to be civil, you may as well be ignorant."

"That is so weird," Rose murmured.

The Doctor sighed, clearly annoyed. "Fine. Fine, what do you want to discuss?"

Cassandra smiled, and Alex noted how strange and unfamiliar it felt. "The nuns," she said. "They're up to something. I've heard them talk about 'intensive care' with more than a little secrecy. I don't think it's legal. And there's more. I don't suppose you've noticed their mortality rate."

"What's their mortality rate?"

"Zero," Cassandra replied. A spike of excitement made Alex want to flinch. For a moment, it felt like she'd been completely removed from her body. She was terrified and upset and in pain, then she sank back down, and that numb ache returned. Cassandra continued, "There are simply no deaths whatsoever. There haven't been in over twenty years! Which, by the way, is longer than _I've_ been here, so you can zip your trap about blaming me for whatever mess you found down here."

Rose spoke up. "You think that dead body has somethin' to do with the hospital's performance?

"I think it's another clue. I had no idea it was down there! Chip doesn't go into the dark, bless him, and I've been stuck in this room. Though there has been an _awful_ smell—I suppose that explains it."

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully. "No deaths... But there were at least five patients with incurable diseases on Ward 26 _alone._ Jaxtephase moltosis, petrifold regression..."

He said more, but Alex didn't catch it. That feeling of pressure on her skull suddenly collapsed again, no prompting. The whole world faded away, but her thoughts remained—scrambled, but there. She remembered things randomly: She was at the table back at Rose's place, pulling crackers and pretending she'd known what they were a few minutes ago; she was running on the street, her first memory, terrified of something but she didn't know what; she was in the TARDIS, marveling at the controls; she was in the mall with an armful of clothes, watching Jackie sort through a rack of jackets, wanting nothing more than to skip ahead twenty-four hours.

Twenty-four hours later, in a hospital five billion years in the future, Alex doubled over, clutching her head in agony... only _she_ wasn't doing it. Cassandra groaned and cursed, clawing her way out of Alex's thoughts. She could feel it—Alex that is—as if this woman had just seeped into her brain like water in a sponge. Or acid. Cassandra was acid in a sponge, and it wanted out.

Alex didn't notice the ringing in her ears until the Doctor's voice broke through. "Cassandra, you need to get out of her head _right now."_

"Erg—I can't!" she cried. Tears paved a wet path down Alex's cheeks. Her head was burning. "I've nowhere to go!"

The Doctor grabbed her shoulders roughly. "You'll _both_ have nowhere in a minute if you don't leave her."

"What went wrong?" Cassandra whimpered. "Something must have gone wrong with the transfer. This isn't supposed to happen."

"Get _out,_ Cassandra!" Rose shouted.

Alex sat up suddenly. The world was a blur. Rose was a blue and yellow blob behind the Doctor, but her eyes were locked on the shape. The ringing in her ears grew unbearably loud. Something seemed to pull at her brain, a feeling similar to a nosebleed, and the world went black again.

* * *

Alex gasped. She found herself slumped forward with her head resting on the Doctor's shoulder. He still had his hands on her arms, but it was gentle, and he was whispering in her ear, "It's okay. I've got you."

Alex pushed herself away. He let her. Then, in a low voice, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

She blinked a few times, and put her hands to the sides of her head. They were hers again. She could feel again. The pain was waning to a dull ache. "That was horrifying," she muttered distantly.

The Doctor smiled, still worried, but apparently satisfied. "Now then." He stood and turned to Rose, who was no longer holding Chip captive. "That was _not_ what I meant, Cassandra."

Alex jumped. "What?"

Rose wasn't paying attention. She was smoothing down her jacket, examining her torso as though she were looking for a stain. She raised her hands to her head and rubbed her temples. With a relieved, almost blissful sigh, she moaned, "That is _so_ much better."

Alex got to her feet. She felt a bit wobbly, but her head was clearing fast. "Is that—"

"Cassandra, you can't have Rose either." The Doctor stalked towards Rose. She raised her head defiantly. When he stopped, they were so close together that she could have bit his neck.

"I won't keep her for long," Rose trilled in Cassandra's haughty accent. "Just long enough for us to find out what's going on in this place _._ Then I can go off, find a... fresher body." She directed a wrinkled nose at Alex. "I was hoping for the girl, but something is very wrong with her head."

Alex flushed. "Oi, you're the one shoving yourself into other people's brains."

"Oh, yes," Cassandra agreed. "And this one is _much_ more accommodating. Yours is... tight. Though it wasn't _so_ terrible." She smiled up at the Doctor. "I could easily jump between them. It wouldn't hurt me, but her..."

There was a pause. The Doctor worked his jaw. Finally, he groaned. "All right, fine. You can stay, but only until we get to the bottom of this." He gestured back the way they'd come. "As soon as that's done, as soon as there's no _danger,_ you leave."

"Of course."

"And if Rose becomes unstable in any way, at any _time,_ you _leave."_

"Agreed."

"And if you refuse to leave, I'll _make_ you."

"I very much doubt you can—"

"I will do whatever I have to," the Doctor growled.

Cassandra hesitated. "Right. All right, you have a deal."

"Right." The Doctor nodded, glanced at Alex, and nodded some more. "Good. S'pose that's that. I'm sorry, Rose." He apologized with such absolute sincerity that, for a moment, Cassandra twisted Rose's face into an expression almost resembling shame. "Come on then," the Doctor announced. "Chip can stay here. I don't trust you not to use him somehow." Chip didn't look happy with that, but he didn't argue. "We'll come back for you," the Doctor promised, then whirled around and started off back down the hall. Alex ran up next to him.

Unbeknownst to them, Cassandra took this opportunity to turn to Chip and whisper a few words in his ear. He nodded.

"Keep up, Cassandra," the Doctor called, not bothering to look back. "I want to keep an eye on Rose."

"Coming," Cassandra sang. As she moved up next to them, Alex put herself on the opposite side of the Doctor.

They stopped at the elevators. ( _Lifts,_ Alex reminded herself. _I can't remember anyone calling them elevators. Why is it in my head?_ ) The Doctor pressed the button and waited.

Alex looked back at the room they'd entered from. With the light on, she could clearly make out the rotted form of a human corpse on the wall. Contrast to her initial reaction—perhaps it had only taken this long to sink in—her stomach twisted. She turned away.

"So what's the plan?" Rose asked in that odd accent. "Not going back to... inspect the body?"

The Doctor gave a quick, uninterested glance at the room. "He was sick. He died. Knowing what _of_ won't explain why he's here."

 _He's irritable,_ Alex noted as the lift doors opened. They stepped inside.

The Doctor called, "Floor one, please," and the doors closed. They began their ascent.

Cassandra started to speak. "I—"

The Doctor shushed her curtly. "I don't want a word out of you unless it's important. Understand?"

She looked peeved. "That is no way—"

" _Understand."_

Cassandra swallowed. "Yes."

Alex was tempted to ask what had happened when they'd last met. Then she remembered that image she'd had in her mind back there, the one that wasn't hers. That man in the leather jacket... Was that the Doctor? He'd been angry then, and the words he'd said, the thing about death—that scared her a bit, even now that she was free of the woman's influence. Cassandra had been engulfed in terror at the realization that this man was the one she'd met. Had he tried to kill her? Had he succeeded?

"How are you doing?"

Alex looked up at the Doctor. He looked concerned, but still irritable. _'Everything has its time and everything dies.'_ Alex was suddenly very afraid of him.

"Alex."

She blinked. He was furrowing his brow. She scrambled for a reply. "Yeah. I-I mean—I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"You don't sound fine."

Alex turned to the door. The lift was beginning to feel very cramped.

 _Ding_

They stepped out of the very same elevator doors that Alex had stepped into, alone, just before anything had gone wrong. There was a small group of humans talking by the rest area. Other than that, it was exactly the same. They turned right and started walking.

"I'm sorry I brought you with us." The Doctor said this without looking at her. "Post-regeneration," he muttered. "Impaired judgment. When this is over, I'll take you back to the Powell Estate. Jackie can look after you."

Alex's heart leapt to her throat. "What about finding out who I am?"

"I can still do that," he assured her. "The TARDIS has your face, and it wouldn't be too difficult to get a DNA sample. S'all we need, really. And there's still a possibility we can find out while we're here."

They stopped by a computer screen in the wall some ways down. It had a little map on it and some information about the hospital written off to the side. The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, but before he could use it, someone raised their voice.

"You there!"

It was a nun. She had her face covered with some kind of nunly veil, but her brisk walk betrayed an angry sort of urgency.

The Doctor put away his screwdriver, annoyed, and turned to her with a bright smile. "Hullo, how can I help you?"

The nun stopped. She tilted her head at an angle that made it seem to Alex as though she were looking at her. "The Doctor, is it? Please come with me."

The Doctor frowned. "What for?"

"You've been requested for visitation."

"By... who? Face of Boe? Did something happen?"

The nun lowered her head. "Please, come with me."

She turned and started off. The Doctor glanced at Rose with raised eyebrows, seemed to remember who he was looking at, and shifted the look to Alex. She shrugged. They followed the nun. She led them through some doors that appeared very much employee-only, beyond which lay a wide hall of closed doors. The Doctor glanced around with interest.

"This isn't the way to any patient rooms," he noted.

The nun stopped by one door and opened it. She stood to the side. "This way, please."

The Doctor started forward, but Rose and Alex hung back. Cassandra spoke up. "Hold your whiskers, kitty. Why do you want us in there?"

The nun's hand twitched. "You've been requested personally by Matron Casp."

"'Matron'? Oh, we are special, aren't we?" The Doctor looked back at the girls, then leaned forward to peek through the door. He grinned. "Matron Casp, I presume! Did your systems alert you to my little lift hack? I _thought_ I sensed a silent alarm."

Alex hurried forward to get a look at who he was talking to. The room was immediately recognizable as an office—not large, but sizable, a desk, paperwork... screens on the walls. Standing just in front of the desk was another nun, but this one stood with the air of someone with _far_ more important things to do than look at whatever she happened to be looking at in any given moment.

"At least," this new nun began after a moment of silence, "I do not have to pry a confession from you. Please, come in." She waved a hand, gesturing for them to enter. "I don't want to make a fuss, but vandalism is a crime. We may discuss the severity of the consequences if you are willing to explain yourself."

The Doctor walked right in, hands in his pockets, like the office was his own. His demeanor now reminded Alex of the fact that she wasn't so keen on looking nervous. She followed, trying her best to emulate the way he held his head and shoulders: confident and curious. Cassandra followed, and the nun that brought them here stepped inside and closed the door.

"Well, that's lovely," the Doctor commented. His grin faded into a smirk faded into a serious frown as he asked, "So what's the Sisterhood of Plenitude doing with a very old, very _rotten_ human corpse in a hospital basement?"

Matron Casp's warm but guarded expression melted into one of confusion and irritation, a combination Alex had not thought possible. "So," she purred, "you've been snooping in old departments. I apologize for any unpleasant experience your daughter may have had..."

"Ah, she's not my daughter," the Doctor corrected.

"Not my dad," Alex affirmed.

Casp blinked. "Niece?" They shook their heads. "Step-daughter?" They shook their heads. The nun sighed impatiently. "No matter. Whatever you found down there would have been an oversight on the part of the previous Matron. Agatha's methods were not quite as... effective as mine, and many humans died in her care. The part of the hospital you went to has been out of use since I came to work here twenty-seven years ago." She moved closer to them. "I'll see to getting it cleaned up. In the meantime, would you like to discuss what made you vandalize our lifts in the first place?"

"Oh, well..." The Doctor shrugged one shoulder. "No point in lying, I suppose. You've had a squatter in your basement."

Casp stiffened. "I beg your pardon. Our security systems would not allow such an intrusion—"

"I'm afraid they would, Matron Casp," the Doctor insisted. He stepped forward, causing her to shift back, head held high. "But the matter of who's been living in your basement is neither here nor there. Perhaps, I dunno, the knowledge that you've _had_ a squatter would, oh... damage your reputation—but really, I'm more interested in why _your_ methods, Matron Casp, are more 'effective' than Matron Agatha's. Why doesn't anyone die, hm?" He leaned forward, tongue between his teeth. "What's intensive care?"

Casp's lips curled ever so slightly, and Alex got the distinct feeling she'd known enough cats in her life to recognize a warning look. Did cat people have claws? "What are you?" the nun asked hissed. "A journalist?"

"No, I'm the Doctor. But I once had a very good friend who was a journalist—she was a very good journalist." He cleared his throat. "Here nor there. Answer my question."

The nun by the door spoke up. "Are you suggesting, 'Doctor,' that you're in any place to interrogate _us?"_

"You've committed a crime," Casp agreed. "And you're clearly trying to blackmail us. I believe, under the laws of hospice, we are well within our rights to punish you ourselves."

The cats were beginning to move in on them. The vague threat of being led here in the first place was more than apparent now. Alex instinctively tensed up, ready to run to the door.

Cassandra wasn't having it. "Are you threatening us? Honey, you couldn't overpower a poodle with a muzzle. You're clearly doing _something_ illegal. How about we won't look into it if you compensate us for the trouble?"

Alex got another feeling about cats. She was pretty sure most of them could overpower a poodle if they really wanted to. Case in point: Casp hissed with laughter and held up one hand. A set of wicked claws protruded from her fingertips. "You really should have more respect for the church."

The Doctor stepped back, a finger in the air. "Now, hold on, Matron. The laws of hospice don't give you any right to kill people. That is what I assume you're threatening right now, and I'll have you know I helped write those laws—"

The nun by the door hissed and lashed out with a matching set of silver claws. The Doctor leaped back, simultaneously placing a hand on Rose's shoulder and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "Run," he decided, and bolted for the door. He flashed the sonic at the handle and threw it open. Alex ducked past him and Rose and backed into the corridor, turning just in time to see Cassandra stumble and curse, a hand on her shoulder.

"She scratched me," she whined.

"I know," the Doctor said impatiently. "Come _on._ Alex." He jerked his head to the side, and they started running, headed off deeper into the hospital. Behind them came calls of outrage and commands to "STOP THEM!" A few more nuns came from various doors and doorways, ready to obey, but the Doctor was nimble and Alex was short enough to duck under their arms. Cassandra was just lucky that the Doctor wouldn't let go of her.

The Doctor turned a corner. Before she could follow, Alex was caught on the arm by an elder cat woman. She hadn't unsheathed her claws, but it was the same spot the Doctor had grabbed earlier, and tenderness made Alex cry out. The Doctor immediately skidded back around the corner and yanked the nun's arm away. "Keep up, Alex," he said, grabbing her hand.

They caught up with Rose again. He took her hand too, ran some ways, and ducked into a small room, some kind of closet with clothes and shoes. Alex went to slam the door shut, but the Doctor grabbed the handle, stopping it with a yank, and closed it gently.

"Right," she said, face burning. Her heart was racing. Her head felt very much like a cloud of dust had been kicked up in her brain: activity everywhere but no direction. It wasn't entirely unpleasant.

The Doctor buzzed the sonic screwdriver at the door handle, and there was a click as it locked—just in time for someone on the other side to reach the door. They jiggled the handle, paused, and moved on. The sound of frantic voices slowly faded.

"Well, that was a bust," Cassandra muttered. "Nuns with claws. I suppose once we find out what's really going on, we can take more precautions. Get out, send them remote messages. 'Give us what we want, and we won't tell a soul.' Ooh, think of the money in that." She giggled mischievously.

The Doctor glared at her. "Whatever secret they've got, they're willing to commit _murder_ to keep it. That means it's bad, and that means I'm probably going to put a stop to it. You have no say in the matter. Now shut up, I'm thinking."

At that exact moment, a soft alarm went off in the building, a sort of ding or announcement bell, and the same voice as in the lifts came over an intercom. _"All staff report to ground floor. All staff report to ground floor. There has been a burglary on the premises. Patients are advised to stay in their assigned ward. There is no immediate danger. Please remain calm. All staff report to ground floor."_

"That's some secret," Alex murmured.

"Ah!" Cassandra gasped in pain. She clutched at the wound in her shoulder, which was bleeding profusely now. She hissed, "This really hurts. You're a doctor, aren't you? Help me!"

The Doctor stared at the wound like it had offended him. "Ah, yes, I should fix that up. Um, let's see..." He searched around in his pants' pockets. "Left my coat in Ward Twenty-Six, but I should still have... Ah, here we go." He pulled out a tub of antiseptic wipes and a roll of bandages. "Hold still, now. Alex, do me a favor and listen at the door."

Alex nodded and stood watching as he cleaned and bandaged Rose's arm. Outside, women passed the door speaking in urgent tones. Alex didn't catch most of it, but one woman passed near enough for some to get through: "...check the laboratory, make sure they haven't found their way in. Humans are so morally unambiguous, we won't be able to convince them they're not real people. I can't stand the idea that my job..." The voice drifted off.

"That should do for now," the Doctor said of his handiwork. Rose's upper arm had been entirely mummified.

"Is it supposed to feel numb?" Cassandra whined, but he was clearly done with her.

"Intensive care," the Doctor muttered. "Zero percent mortality rate. Corpse in the basement... This _should_ be obvious. What is it?"

Alex felt the blood drain from her face. _'Not real people,'_ the nun had said. And something about a laboratory...

Cassandra noticed the look. "Has the girl got an idea?"

"I have a name," Alex muttered. Those nuns couldn't have been doing what she thought they were doing. _They're using people as lab rats,_ she thought to herself, testing out the theory. It sounded mad and horrific in her head. Wouldn't the Doctor have thought of that? She didn't want to say it aloud.

The Doctor knelt in front of her. For a moment, Alex thought he was going to interrogate her, demand to know what she was thinking. Instead, he asked, "How do you feel, _really?"_ There was a fierce, calculating sort of look in his eyes. "Your head, how does it feel?"

Alex blinked. "I-I don't..."

"Faint?" the Doctor asked. "Dizzy? Tired? Any pressure? Like someone's trying to blow up a balloon in your skull?"

"What?" Alex blinked again, flustered. "Uh, yeah, I guess, a bit of everything. But we were just running."

"Running doesn't put balloons in your head."

Alex didn't know what to say to that, but the Doctor was studying her face with a sort of focus she didn't like. She wanted to make him stop. To that end, she blurted, "I think they're experimenting on people."

His eyebrows shot up. "What?"

The off-guard expression made it easier for Alex to explain. "I heard them outside. They mentioned a laboratory, and something about people who aren't real people, and you mentioned fatal diseases but no one dies, so..."

The Doctor stared at her. She didn't like looking into his eyes, but they were unnaturally still and held her gaze. Finally, he murmured, "You are much smarter than a human child of the twenty-first century should be."

Alex flushed. "Thanks?"

"Do you think she's right?" Cassandra asked.

The Doctor stood up. Alex let out a quiet sigh of relief. "I'd rather not say," he said gruffly. "Not until I know for sure. We need to get out of here. I have to get to a terminal."

Cassandra glanced at the door. "Are they still out there?"

"I don't hear anything," Alex replied.

"They've all come to the first floor," the Doctor said quietly, pressing his ear against the door. He held a finger up to his lips. A moment passed. Then, "Come on." He opened the door and slipped out. The girls followed.

Cassandra asked, "Where are we going?"

The Doctor shushed her. "I have..." He paused at an intersection of hallways, licked a finger, and held it up as if to test the air. "...A very good sense of direction. This way." And with that, they turned left.

Alex just had to ask, "How does that work?"

"How does what work?"

"Licking your finger."

"Oh." The Doctor paused at an open doorway, glanced inside, and gestured for them to follow again. They passed without incident. "Just does."

They reached a set of automatic doors that slid open silently when they approached. Beyond that was a public hallway, much larger and sleeker than the architecture behind them. A fat blob floated by on some kind of hover-wheelchair (hoverchair?), nodding to them as it passed. "On my way back," it assured them. The Doctor nodded in return.

"How?" Alex pressed.

Cassandra huffed. "Does it matter?"

"Yeah," Alex snapped. "Yeah, it does. I want to know."

The Doctor shushed the both of them. "Be quiet. They don't expect any humans to be walking around in casual conversation, do they?" he chided. "You wouldn't understand, anyway."

"I want to, though," Alex insisted.

The Doctor sighed. "Okay, I lied. It's easy to understand, I just don't feel like explaining. But you're making it more of a bother to avoid the question than answer it, so here we are." They'd reached another part of the wall with a screen on it, this one in the middle of a large, rounded space in the middle of the otherwise straight corridor. He leaned against the wall next to it. "I was tasting the air. Felines have a very particular smell, and homo sapiens have a different... particular smell. Humans aren't allowed back there. Ergo, follow the smell of human, get back to the main hospital. Savvy?"

He didn't wait for a response before tapping a few buttons on the screen. A 3D map of the building appeared, a cylinder with various highlighted rooms and labels next to it.

But he had Cassandra curious now. "How do you taste the air by licking your finger?"

"Yeah," Alex said, a bit miffed that she was agreeing with the woman.

The Doctor glanced at the ceiling, clearly annoyed. "It's a... Time Lord thing. Look, can we focus on the task at hand? I'd rather not discuss details of Time Lord biology while hiding from cats suspected of human experimentation. Also, Cassandra, shut up. Do you see 'intensive care' anywhere?"

Alex wanted to ask what a Time Lord was, why he was called that, and where he was from—but something told her that wouldn't go over well, so she stared at the map on the screen. "There's no basement," she noticed immediately.

"That's not what we're looking for," Cassandra said. "The sisters are involved in this 'intensive care' thing. No one ever came down to the floor I was on."

"Lucky them," the Doctor muttered. At normal volume, he went on, "So... they're hiding the entire department. Can't get to it via normal means. Well, that shouldn't be a problem." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pressed it against a small section of the screen. A moment passed, there was a loud clicking noise, and that entire section of the wall jolted. They all backed off as it sank quietly into the floor to reveal a dim, metallic corridor that was entirely and absolutely out of place in the clean white of the main hospital.

"I think we've found it," Alex said.

Cassandra clasped Rose's hands together happily. "Gorgeous," she gushed, and started in. The Doctor and Alex followed close behind, the former turning briefly to sonic the wall from the other side. It slid up again, cutting them off.

"This looks like that other place," Alex noted as they crept forward. "Where the elevator went when you sonicked it."

"Sonicked?" the Doctor echoed.

Alex blushed.

They turned a corner and stepped onto a concrete ramp that extended out into the side of a large room, a very, _very_ large room. It wound around the outside of a circular chamber, the center of which was nothing but empty space for miles down, and it went so far up that Alex suspected it went to the top of the building. All around the room were green pod-like structures, like combs in a hive.

The Doctor went deathly quiet. Alex didn't dare say a word as he led them along the ramp, his eyes flickering over each pod they passed. Beyond the glassy green covers were familiar silhouettes: The shape of a human body with its arms hung up beside it.

Alex's stomach sank. She wanted to ask if they were dead, or if they were sick, or if they were even human or sentient if they were alive—but the Doctor's eyebrows were a hard line, so she held her tongue.

One shape moved inside a pod, and they stopped. The Doctor pointed the sonic screwdriver at a mechanism on the wall, and it hissed ajar. He pulled it open. Cassandra put a hand to Rose's face. Alex's gut instinct was to focus on her breathing, refuse to react, but she began to feel sick.

Inside the pod was a man. He was definitely alive, unlike the specimen they'd found downstairs, but he wasn't much better off. His skin was made of boils full of pus and open wounds; the fingernails on his hands were cracked and bleeding; his eyes were bloodshot and filled with yellow gunk. When he opened his mouth as though to speak, Alex saw that his tongue was dry and black.

"That's disgusting," Cassandra murmured.

The Doctor's grip tightened on the door.

"What's wrong with him?"

The Doctor didn't answer. Instead, he addressed the man, and he spoke in a tone of voice that Alex had never heard before, full of somber regret. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so, so sorry." Then he closed the door. His hand slid off the handle, and he stood staring at it for a moment. "I'd hoped you were wrong," he said finally, and moved to the next pod. He opened that one as well. Inside was another man with the same afflictions.

"You mean they're experimenting on people?" Cassandra asked.

"Worse," the Doctor growled.

"No," another voice responded.

They all turned, too disgusted to be particularly shocked by this new presence. It was one of the nuns. Alex recognized her as the one who'd stood next to the Face of Boe up in Ward 26.

She continued, "We're not experimenting on _people._ These bodies are not living."

"Yeah?" the Doctor snarled. "Try telling them that. Look at him!" He jerked his head at the man in the pod. The man's eyes were wide, his mouth open. He made a sound like he was trying to speak. In a low voice, the Doctor said, "I thought better of you, Novice Hame. Creating plague carriers to suffer and _die."_

Hame didn't seem very bothered by his insult. She started toward them. "It's for the greater good."

"'The greater good.'" The Doctor laughed bitterly, turning away as though he couldn't bear the sight of her. "You're killing by the hundred, by the _thousand,_ every day of every year for over _twenty years._ You think that's justified? _You think you're doing good?"_ He'd grown steadily louder as he spoke, almost spitting by the end. Now he stalked forward. "I don't _care_ what you have to say about this. I don't _care_ how many people's lives this abhorration has saved. I am going to put a stop to it right here, right now."

Hame stepped back as he reached her, but she still spoke with some bravado. "Who are you to condemn so many future patients to death?"

"I'm the Doctor."

There was a hard finality to the way he said it, sending shivers up Alex's spine. She watched, transfixed, as the Doctor stared down Novice Hame. Her eyes were wide; she looked ready to bolt, but she didn't. Alex looked down at the nun's hands and saw that she was wringing them nervously. No claws. No threat. Was the Doctor about to undo this entire horrific operation by shouting at a cat?

"Alex," he called suddenly, causing her to jump. "Do me a favor and stop Cassandra from wandering off."

Alex turned. Cassandra had frozen, back turned, clearly trying to get away from the party. Unwilling to disappoint the Doctor, Alex ran and grabbed Rose's wrist.

"Get off me!" Cassandra growled.

Alex dug her nails in. "You're not going anywhere with Rose," she said firmly, surprising herself. Her voice hadn't shaken at all. Empowered, she added, "But you're welcome to leave on your own if you want."

"I _could_ leave with _you,"_ Cassandra hissed, then promptly fell over, unconscious.

Alex let go in surprise. The Doctor ran over— "Rose!" —and dropped down next to her. He checked her pulse, listened to her breathing, and placed a hand on her forehead. After a moment, he turned to Hame, furious. "She's sick! What did you do?"

Novice Hame clenched her hands together. "Matron Casp suspected she may need to kill you, but wanted to avoid a mess, so... she and Sister Jatt laced their claws with poison."

"What poison?" the Doctor demanded.

"I don't know. I'm only a novice. I'm not—"

"You're useless then," he snarled, turning back to Rose. He tore her bandages off to reveal a blue-green festering wound. As soon as the pressure was gone, it started bleeding again. He hissed inward. "No, no, _no."_ He dabbed a finger in the blood, and Rose moaned with discomfort. The Doctor sniffed the blood. "I have no idea what that is," he murmured. "I've never seen it before in my life."

"They must have a cure," Alex tried anxiously. "They have a cure for everything."

The Doctor stared at the space between them. He seemed distant. "We're on floor one. There was an emergency supply center on floor eleven. Maybe— Yes. No. There's no time." Rose's face was getting pale. The Doctor glanced back at Hame, then up at Alex. "Alex, can I trust you?"

There was no hesitation. Eager to please, the girl replied, "Yes, of course."

"Do you trust _me?"_

"Y—" Alex paused. The Doctor's eyes glowed dangerously. Alex looked at Rose, who was beginning to sweat, and nodded. "Yeah."

He nodded back. "I need you to go to the eleventh floor. Don't take the lift—it's too slow. Go back the way we came. There should be stairs to the right of the entrance. When you get up there, take a left, then a right at the end of the hall. The emergency supply room is three doors down. Get me _everything._ " He pulled the sonic screwdriver out and tossed it at her. "Setting twenty-three for locks. I'll meet you in ward fifteen. That's by the lifts. Go— _now."_

Alex wanted to ask what the Doctor was going to do, but the urgency in his voice left no room for questions. She turned and ran. Behind her, she heard the Doctor say, "You're helping me with Rose," and some kind of quiet protest from Hame. That was it before she'd turned into the corridor and ran smack into someone else.

" _Oof!"_

"Chip!" Alex yelped, stunned. The man stumbled back. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but Alex remembered the discolored wound on Rose's arm and shoved past him without another thought.

She reached the exit and, for a moment, thought about using the sonic screwdriver—then she saw a very large lever on the wall marked _'Door.'_ She pulled it. The wall came open again. She peeked out, saw no one, and ran. The stairs weren't hard to find. Alex ran up two at a time. _Eight, nine, ten,_ she counted in her head. She bounded off the steps on the eleventh floor and continued running. Her legs might have hurt, but she had to save Rose.

She passed a nun who screeched, "Stop!" and put on a burst of speed.

Alex followed the Doctor's instructions until she came to a very normal looking door with an analogue doorknob. The sound of footsteps on the chase thundered behind her. Her heart pounded with the rhythm. She wasn't sure if it was fear, adrenaline, or some sick form of excitement, but it kept her alert. She took the sonic screwdriver and looked for settings. There didn't seem to be any. Then she remembered the psychic paper and pointed it at the lock, pressing the button and thinking, _Twenty-three,_ as hard as she could. _Twenty-three. Open!_ The screwdriver whirred.

Someone yelled, "Stop her!"

The lock clicked. Alex opened the door, ran inside, closed the door, and pointed the sonic at it again. Maybe her panic made it easier, but it locked immediately.

The room she'd entered was entirely void of life, which was good. There were rows of shelves containing various containers with various colored liquids inside, translucent barrels filled to the brim with powders and herbs, and carts with IV bags and needles and various instruments. Alex decided the cart would be her transport. She began gathering up the cures.

As she worked, someone banged on the door. People were shouting. Someone would come over with a key soon, and then...

Alex had the cart covered and stacked with one of everything she could find. She found a roll of bandages and hurriedly tied down the big things that might have fallen. She was still kneeling, tearing off a bit of it, when the door opened. Too frantic to even look up, she stood and pushed the cart at the cat in the doorway, building momentum. The three nurses outside dodged out of the way, and Alex got lucky: They were all too surprised to follow her immediately. She went back to the elevators and swerved into Ward 15.

The Doctor was already there. He seemed to be trying to convince the only nurse present not to go for help. "Look, she's _sick._ You have to give me time to save her."

"Doctor!" Alex shouted, pulling back on the cart. It reluctantly slowed to a stop.

The Doctor's eyes lit up on her arrival. "Good!" he shouted and began pulling medicine off the cart. First a large glass jar, then a smaller one, then an IV bag. He looked at the labels and tossed the bag aside. "I got Sister Rosemary here to tell me what poison they used," he explained. "We need seraxita."

Alex immediately knew what he was talking about—that was one of the small glass vials she'd taken from the shelves. She grabbed it and handed it to him.

He took it and beamed with relief. "Oh, you are brilliant."

"Stop them!" called a voice. "Arrest them!" The nuns that Alex got past before had caught up with her. Rosemary looked less uncertain now that a superior had just given her an order. She turned to the Doctor with menace.

"Hold 'em off!" The Doctor went to a bed that held Rose Tyler. She was so white, so still, that Alex would have thought her dead if the Doctor hadn't been acting so frantic.

Alex grabbed the cart and ran it into Sister Rosemary. The nurse was unprepared. She fell back behind the row of beds, pinned between the wall and the cart. Someone hissed, and Alex grabbed a jar of solution and threw it. The cat woman she'd aimed at dodged, but it hit one of the other women in the chest, shattering, and she fell backwards.

"Not exactly what I meant, but good show," the Doctor called to Alex.

"Where's Novice Hame?" Alex asked.

"She's why you were followed."

Suddenly, the hospital went into lock-down. The same soft voice from earlier came over the intercom, more urgent now: _"This building is under quarantine."_

Some kind of filter fell over the windows. There were sounds all over; the patients in the room yelped and gasped.

" _Repeat: This building is under quarantine. No one may leave the premises. Repeat: No one may leave the premises."_

"What?" Alex asked loudly. The nuns appeared just as surprised.

The Doctor let out a tired sort of mix between a sigh and a groan. Alex looked over and saw that he'd somehow managed to bring the color back to Rose's cheeks. Her arm was attached to an IV, and the wound was freshly bandaged. The Doctor noticed Alex's look and smiled reassuringly.

"It's all out of her system," he said. "She'll just sleep for a bit. Right, now—you lot. Who do you suppose just quarantined this hospital?"

As if in answer, a scream rang out from somewhere close by. Alex realized that sounds of distant panic were growing, as if something dangerous were spreading throughout the building. Footsteps sounded from a distance, someone running toward them. A young woman in a hospital gown skidded to a stop at the entrance. Panting, she pointed back the way she'd come.

"Th-the... Dead! They're all dead!" She had a thick accent Alex didn't recognize. "They just t-touched them. Sisters, you have to save us! Please!"

The Doctor skipped around Rose's bed and ran over to the woman. "Who's dead? Who touched them?"

The woman glanced from him to the nuns to the broken glass on the floor, then back at him.

"They're patients," she said. "Like zombies. I don't know what's wrong with them. They're all over the place! Oh—oh, God!" She stared in horror down the hall out of sight. Alex pushed past the nuns to go look. There, coming out of a doorway marked with a sign for stairs, was a crowd of people.

Alex blanched. "Are those—"

"The plague patients," the Doctor breathed. "How did they get out?"

"We have to stop them," Alex said, too anxious to keep her thoughts in her head. "They're killing people."

"With every disease in the world," the Doctor murmured. The patients were getting close. He jumped into action. "Right. Sisters, I need you to cooperate with me, or we're all gonna die. Get me IV bags of every cure, every solution. We have most of them here already, but big glass jars are a bit cumbersome. Alex, you've been brilliant, but I need you to do one more thing for me."

"Anything," she said.

"Stay with Rose. I'm going to go stop the Sisterhood and save New Earth, all in one go." The Doctor grinned at her, then he started ordering the nurses around. " _MOVE._ We don't have all day! Someone get me—wait, this'll work. Shut all the curtains! They might not _touch_ the patients if they don't _see_ them. Alex, you got that?"

With a quick nod, Alex ran to Rose and drew the oval curtain around the bed. Sister Rosemary was doing the same with the rest of the beds. A man screamed, but the Doctor hushed him.

Alex peaked out of the curtain and saw the Doctor running out of the room, a dozen or more IV bags stuck to his clothes, shouting behind him, "Oi! Over here! Look at me—I'm _way_ more interesting than those lousy cats. That's it, follow me!"

The plague carriers trundled after him, but a few wandered into Ward 15. One of the nuns picked up an IV pole to try and prod them away. Another nun hissed and slashed at them with her claws. One of them lunged forward and pressed their hand against a third nun's neck. The nun screamed, and Alex could see the side of her face as her fur seemed to petrify, her skin boiled and cracked, and her eyes began to bleed. She collapsed, dead, in a matter of seconds.

Alex shut the curtains and backed into the hospital bed, heart pounding. The Doctor was gone. He was going to stop the hoard—Alex was sure of it—but he was gone, and one touch from those people could kill her. There had to be some way of defending herself other than keeping quiet and out of sight. Hadn't there? And what about the patients in the room?

The nuns kept fighting the pod people off. Alex pulled herself onto the bed so her feet were above the space under the curtains. Her chest swelled with a growing sense of panic.

"There's more of them!" someone shouted, and there was a sound like something large and heavy hitting the floor. Another scream, footsteps running off, and silence.

The slow, lumbering people were still in here, wandering about. Patients in their beds breathed far too loudly. One screamed, there was a scramble and a clang, and then a _thunk_ like a body hitting the floor. Suppressed screaming from the other side of the room followed.

 _Can't just sit here,_ Alex told herself, despite her foggy thoughts.

She unfroze and looked at Rose. The blonde was still asleep, but her breathing was unsteady now. Alex wasn't sure if that was bad. It probably was, but that didn't matter. Alex couldn't do anything about it; what she _could_ do was get the zombie hoard away from all the helpless patients. She got off the bed, peaked out of the curtain so she knew what she was getting into, and bolted.

The human experiments didn't watch her in shock as she'd hoped. Instead, they all immediately turned toward her, arms outstretched, moaning incoherently. She got into the hallway and dodged around one woman, just barely avoiding her touch.

When Alex was sure she had clear space ahead of her, she turned, still moving backwards, and yelled, "HEY!" The ones not already following Alex turned at the sound of her voice. She waved her arms frantically. "Get over here! Follow me! I have something for you!" She didn't have anything for them, of course, but who's to say they couldn't understand English? "I'll take you to it—come on!"

It worked. Every one of the dozen or more human lab rats turned and started after her. She went back to running, hoping against hope that Rose would be okay.

Down the hall she ran. She turned left, then whirled around at the sight of more plague patients. She came upon a set of stairs and stumbled down a good length of them. A hallway a few floors down—she didn't count—had been designed with elevators just next to the stairs, but they weren't working. _Quarantine,_ Alex reminded herself, and went back into the stairwell.

Only one or two plague patients had followed her off the eleventh floor. She felt an overwhelming urge to keep them after her, away from the other patients. "Down here," she called, and a few more trickled onto the stairs.

Alex went back to the floor and ran again. She'd found that she liked running very much, but she was getting tired. Her legs hurt. Her lungs ached. She stopped to catch her breath at the end of a corridor, kneeling to support herself with hands on her thighs. Some people ran by her blindly, but they didn't seem to be pursued.

She took a deep breath, stood up straight, and looked back. The plague patients were crowding into the hallway. There were more than she'd thought there were, now wandering in either direction. A few noticed her. She didn't call again. She just ran.

Immediately, Alex was stopped by someone—a patient, a man, hair ragged and wet, surrounded by other patients in a hoard from the pods. He grabbed her shoulder, the skin of his hand made contact with her neck, and she squealed in horror.

But nothing happened.

He let go and wandered past. The others did the same, smiling and touching each other's arms randomly. A few patted Alex's head in a vaguely affectionate manner. She turned and watched them meet the other crowd of patients. They reached out. A few hugged. No one died. In fact, the longer she watched, Alex was almost sure they didn't look sick anymore.

The Doctor must have done something. It _had_ to have been him. But what did he do?

More footsteps echoed down the corridor behind her.

"Alex!" the Doctor called, clearly surprised to see her there. He skidded to a stop in front of her, followed by a small man with red branding on his face.

"Chip?" Alex said, almost indignant.

The Doctor frowned. "Doctor," he said, _quite_ indignant. He waved his fingers. "Hello. Thought I should mention: Just saved everyone. I cured the patients! Chip helped. Not too bad for the brainwashed slave of a skin, even if he was the one to let them out in the first place. Apparently he thought that would give Cassandra a chance to escape us." He scowled. " _Hopefully,_ the cure will spread throughout the hospital, and we'll all be safe again. Just in case, I told the nurses to bring some more upstairs. Should be fine."

His words hit Alex like a ton of bricks. She laughed with relief. "Brilliant."

"Yes." The Doctor nodded approvingly. "Now—where's Rose? Why did you leave her?"

"Oh. Oh!" Alex gestured in a vaguely backwards direction. "She's safe. I think. I had to lead the zombies away."

"They're not zombies, Alex. They're _people._ But you—hang on." The Doctor frowned. "You led them away?" She nodded. "How many were there?"

"I dunno. Twenty? Fifteen?"

"Had they found you?"

She shook her head. "They found someone else, though. I think they killed him."

A warm grin spread across the Doctor's face. "And you ran to protect the rest of the patients. Ooh, Alex, I might just have to keep you. A ten year old girl saving lives by risking her own, not even a second thought. Well, you look ten anyway. C'mon, let's get Rose."

Elation spread from her chest as Alex ran with the Doctor (and Chip) back to Ward 15. It was like that feeling she got when she'd first stepped out of the TARDIS: She had to swallow a burst of laughter that would have been entirely out of place and embarrassing. The Doctor approved of her actions. Why did that feel so good?

When they reached Ward 15, Alex was entirely out of breath. Her vision was fuzzy around the edges. She sat down on an empty bed, trusting the Doctor wouldn't leave without her.

"Rose?" he called out. He sounded panicked.

Alex looked up. The Doctor stood in the middle of the room, gazing around as if for something lost. The original patients of Ward 15 cowered in their beds, and three dead cats lay on the floor, but Rose was nowhere to be seen.

Chip looked around frantically. "Where is Lady Cassandra?"

"I don't know." The Doctor looked fierce again. Alex didn't want to run anymore, but she got the feeling she might have to when the Doctor marched by her. "She must have run off with Rose's body. Come on—they can't have gone far."

They went straight to the stairs. About two floors down, the quarantine lifted, but the Doctor didn't want to slow their descent by taking an elevator. Alex tried not to complain. Her legs were beginning to feel like jello, and her lungs ached, but she didn't want to be a bother, so she kept on.

They stopped on the first floor. Cured patients from the laboratory wandered about looking confusedly happy, but there was no one else. The Doctor ran to the reception desk. "Hello! Is anyone back there? You need to put out an alert. Helloo!" He pressed a button on the counter that made a little dinging noise, like a bell. He pressed it again and again until a flustered nun came out from a doorway behind the desk.

"Stop that," she snapped when he kept pressing the button. He stopped.

The Doctor leaned forward. "Sister Anna, you need to put out an alert. Tell everyone: There is a blonde girl in a blue jacket running around the hospital. She's my friend and she's not in her right mind and I saved you all, so you need to do as I say and _get her found_. _"_

The nun appeared flustered. "Not in her right mind?"

"Yes, now get on the intercom, and—"

"I'm sorry, Doctor," the cat woman interrupted, looking scared. Her whiskers twitched. "But... a girl of that description left the hospital not five minutes ago."

" _What?"_

"She said she was with you." The nun fidgeted and shuffled back. "Sister Cathica stopped her by the entrance, but she told her you had sent her out. The staff is so confused right now, we—she let her go."

" _No,"_ the Doctor groaned through clenched teeth. He turned around as if to leave, then turned back. "Are the authorities on their way?"

"Yes."

"Good. Don't let them do _anything_ with those patients from the laboratory until I get back. Do you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Right. Now." The Doctor looked at Alex, then glanced around. "Where's Chip?"

Alex saw and pointed behind him. "There."

Chip was running toward the front doors. "Mistress!" he called. "I'm coming, my mistress."

"Right," the Doctor sighed. He ran after him, and Alex followed, wishing she had infinite stamina. "Chip!" the Doctor called in a friendly voice. Upon reaching the little man, he threw an arm around his shoulders and grinned down at him. "Where do you think your mistress has gone, hm? 'Cause you've got some idea. I can tell."

Chip seemed conflicted. He started to pull away but kept stepping back into the Doctor's grasp intermittently. He refused to meet their eyes. "She'll be wanting to get away from you."

"Yes, she will," the Doctor agreed. "But she doesn't have anywhere to go, does she? She hasn't any money, and even if she did, she wouldn't think to use it to see what's happening to her. And do you know what happens when you transfer a consciousness into a living human body using a first century fifth millennium psychograph? Even successfully?"

Chip shook his head.

"Well." The Doctor held him uncomfortably close. "The original mind is compressed, like a file, tucked away into a small corner of the brain where the consciousness slowly fades away. Then it rots. To use a metaphor: It's like a dead body in a small room, poisoning the air and the water and the food until the other person in the room, the intruder, dies too, breathing in the stench of that dead mind. The _body_ is the last thing to go. For about, oh, a week after full mental collapse, the body is a walking vegetable. It can speak random phrases from old memories, maybe have a singsong, react to cold temperatures—but it's not aware. It's just a sad husk. Cassandra will be dust clogging Rose's brain in, ooh... two months?"

Chip looked horrified. _Alex_ was horrified. That had almost happened to her. She felt sick.

"Now." The Doctor leaned even closer to Chip. "If you don't want your 'mistress' to die a slow and painful death, you'll tell me where she's gone."

* * *

As soon as they got to the TARDIS, Alex sat in the chair behind the console and tried not to look as tired as she was. Chip had told the Doctor that Cassandra would be heading into the city for a prettier, richer body. They would have gone on foot, but as they'd reached the crest of the cliffs above the lake and looked over the fields to the footbridge leading into the city, it became apparent that they weren't going to catch up without transport.

The Doctor piloted the TARDIS in a stony sort of silence. His concern for Rose made him scary, so it was just as well Alex stayed quiet. Chip stood off to the side, trying not to hyperventilate. The Doctor hadn't even given him the opportunity to take in the size of the TARDIS before taking off. There was no shaking or rumbling like what accompanied their last trip. It was a somber ride.

The whirring stopped, and they landed with a _gong,_ or whatever that noise was. Alex started to stand, but the Doctor assured her she didn't need to follow him. With a conflicted sort of gratitude, Alex sat back down.

She didn't remember falling asleep, but she woke up some time later with her head lolling at an uncomfortable angle. What had woken her up was a high pitched buzzing noise and a sharp blue light just behind her eyelids. Alex cringed away. The noise and light stopped.

The Doctor stood up straight and examined the sonic screwdriver. "Neurons still functioning properly. Bit of a serotonin dip, dopamine production is down—that's easily fixed. Get her on dark chocolate for a day or two. Temperature's normal. Energy readings a bit high... Well, that's nothing to worry about, but—hold on." He shone the light in her face again. Alex winced and tried to bat the screwdriver away, but the Doctor pulled it back too fast. "There's something wrong with your neuropsypathic field."

"My what?"

The Doctor lowered the screwdriver. "I know, mess of a word. Refers to the psychic barrier of a conscious brain, a sort of invisible bubble for the mind. Comes in different types—for example _mine_ is a bit like a revolving door—though it's usually just a wall. Natural defenses. I didn't name it. Suppose I could call it an aura, but that's a bit mystical."

Something moved out of the corner of Alex's eye. She turned her head and sat up straight. "Rose!"

Rose smiled. "Worried 'bout me, were ya? No worries, the Doctor already checked me over. 'No lasting damage.'"

" _Actually_ Rose, then," Alex decided.

Rose seemed amused. " _Actually_ Rose," she confirmed.

Then Alex noticed something else. Standing just a few feet away from Rose, arms wrapped around his front, Chip watched on silently. She wanted to question what had happened while she was asleep, but the Doctor didn't give her time to come up with the words.

"Undetectable neuropsypathic field..." The Doctor frowned in thought, then said, "Hold still, Alex," and went to the TARDIS controls. "I'm going to see if the TARDIS can discern what this is. Could be nothing. Could just be—well, it's not _nothing,_ but it could be a minor side effect of the psychograph, something the sonic can't detect properly. Psychotransferance is a nasty business. But if we catch it early, could be easily... Hmm."

"What?" Alex got up and tried to see the console screen. She couldn't understand what all the circular symbols meant, but the Doctor seemed to find them puzzling.

"Nothing," the Doctor murmured. He turned to Alex, and she could have sworn he was accusing her of something. She stepped back nervously.

"What is it, Doctor?" Rose asked.

The Doctor stared at Alex for a moment longer, calculating, then inhaled abruptly. "Right. We'll deal with that later. I promised Cassandra a trip."

Alex blanched. "What?"

The Doctor set the TARDIS off, and that familiar whirring, groaning sound filled the air. As they landed, Rose stepped over to Alex. "She's Chip," she murmured. "The Doctor talked her into leavin' me, but Chip's dying. Then we, er, talked her into not hurtin' anyone else."

"Earth," the Doctor announced. "Three hundred and seven years ago. The day Lady Cassandra was invited to a party in the honor of then-ambassador of Thrace, Kin Larvy. This was the—"

"—the last time anyone called me beautiful," Chip finished. His voice was entirely different from how it had been before. It was softer, and he now had Cassandra's posh accent. "I designed Chip base—" Cassandra choked. Her voice shook. "B-based on that man. He died in my arms."

It suddenly dawned on Alex what was happening, and she felt a twist in her gut. Chip—that is Cassandra—looked pale and dismal, like a wet kitten. He... she... They were both dying. The Doctor was giving her a final wish.

Feeling sick, Alex chose to stay behind as the Doctor and Rose led Chip and Cassandra out the door. She heard music and joyous chatter and the clink of fragile wine glasses. Then the door fell shut, and there was silence.

After a minute or so, the Doctor and Rose returned to the TARDIS alone. Alex stepped out of the way as the former put the ship in flight, and that now familiar noise filled the room. It was oddly comforting, that sound. _Everything's going to be all right,_ it seemed to say. _You have your whole future ahead of you._

They landed, though Alex had no idea where, and the Doctor turned to her with a tired sigh. She held his gaze, trying very hard not to flinch. Finally, he spoke. "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged. "No different than usual. Better now."

He took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned her head. He looked at it. "No, not better. And the TARDIS can't tell me what's wrong."

She didn't like the tone of his voice. "What are you saying?"

"I may need to get a closer look." The Doctor glanced at Rose with a grimace.

Rose blinked. "What are you talkin' about?"

Alex found herself moving away from the Doctor. He noticed. "Now, I'm not gonna hurt you," he assured her. "But I _can_ open up a telepathic connection and see what's going on inside your mind."

"Like what Cassandra did?" Alex asked nervously.

" _No."_ The Doctor scowled. " _Not_ like Cassandra. Entirely different. That's like the difference between... breaking a window and opening a door."

"You can read minds," Rose reiterated.

"Basically, yes."

"And... how long've you had that ability?"

"I don't make a habit of it," the Doctor insisted defensively. "Other people's minds are _boring."_

Alex got a sudden idea, and her heart leapt. "Could you find my memories with it?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, then shut it. "Uh, maybe. It depends on whether or not they're still in there. Remember: You're not just damaged. They've been hidden or removed."

"You could try, though, right?"

He stared at her, glanced away, and then leaned down with a sigh. "Alex, I can't just bring back your memories. I would have to go digging, and I might see things you don't want me to. Private things. Things you don't even know you want to keep secret."

"But—"

"Last resort," the Doctor told her, lowering his head. "I can look right now just to see if you're alright and fix whatever's wrong, but I won't go looking for memories unless there's no other option. Okay?"

Alex's face burned. The way he spoke made her feel horribly ridiculous. How could she have even asked? Broken, she conceded, "Okay."

"Right." The Doctor bent down so his head was even with hers. He held his hands up slightly, raising his eyebrows with them. "May I?"

Alex clenched and unclenched a fist. Then she nodded. "Yeah."

He nodded back and placed his fingers on her temples. Instantly, her vision warped; something she couldn't make out overlapped the Doctor's face. It made her sick.

"Close your eyes," the Doctor told her, and she realized he'd already done the same. She did as he said.

It was similar to what Cassandra had done only in that she could feel a presence not her own. Apart from that, it was entirely different. The presence was benign, and it didn't get too close. It entered her personal bubble, but never touched her mind.

The Doctor frowned. Alex didn't see it, but she knew that it happened. "What's wrong?" she asked.

 _There's no barrier,_ he responded absently.

Alex started. _Did you just talk inside my head?_

The Doctor's frowned deepened. _Not deliberately. Do you mind if I go further?_

She nodded.

The presence got bigger, like a hand reaching inside a jar, the arm adding more mass, but still just an appendage. Alex began seeing memories. She saw the entirety of their trip to New Earth, moving by as if on rewind. Nothing stayed quite long enough for her to examine the memory, but she got a good review of the experience. She shivered.

Then the previous day appeared, Boxing Day, and passed in much the same way, only faster. It became impossible to discern what was happening as Christmas flashed by in a blur so sudden it almost hurt. She was running from the shadow in the sky, and then—

The Doctor let go and fell back on his haunches. He steadied himself on the console behind him. He looked sick. "I'm sorry," he said breathlessly. "I didn't mean..."

Rose hurried over. "What is it? What's wrong?"

The Doctor shook his head. "There was... nothing. Blimey, no wonder your memory's gone—it probably all _fell out."_

Alex recoiled. "What?"

"You have no protections," he told her, pushing himself to his feet. "Nothing. You're an open book. Literally, even the slightest psychic interference... should... _kill_ you."

Alex gaped at the man. "B-but I'm alive."

He looked at Rose, seemingly for answers. She didn't have any. The Doctor stared at some space above Alex's head. "Not dead, so it must be something else. Was almost like..." He squinted. "Gravitational elasticity."

"What?"

The Doctor glanced between Rose and Alex. "It's like... Okay, so imagine each person's brain as a water balloon."

"A water balloon," Rose echoed.

"Yes, a water balloon, only the water balloon is very very tough. It would take a drill to break through it. The water inside is your mind, the psychic wavelength in tune with the electrical currents of the brain."

"'Kay," said Alex.

" _Your_ mind," the Doctor went on, nodding at her. "Is living gelatin."

She stared at him. "My mind is Jello."

"It keeps itself together," he clarified, "but there's nothing protecting it. I've never met anyone with a _brain_ that had a mind like that. Plants, sure, and I once knew a very lovely gaseous creature named Frankly—entirely telepathic—but never anyone with anything as delicate as a brain, and _never_ human."

"Hang on," Rose cut in. "What about Gwyneth? She was psychic. Stuff got in her head all the time. The Gelth, Bad Wolf... She read _your_ mind."

"Bad Wolf?" Alex echoed.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not the same. I know what a psychic mind feels like. It's like... Well, all right, the gelatin metaphor is rubbish." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Metaphors aren't my thing, are they?"

Rose smirked. "No, they really aren't."

Alex shuffled her feet impatiently. "So am I going to die or what?"

"No," the Doctor decided. "No, you should be fine. Sorry, you really threw me off there." He sniffed. "That must have been why Cassandra almost killed you. A psychotransference like that relies on the defenses of the host mind."

"And I'm gooey mush."

The Doctor gave her a little smile. "You seem to be taking this well."

"You don't," she countered.

His face dropped to a petulant scowl. "Can't exactly blame me. Nine hundred years and I've never met a human with a gravitationally elastic psyche."

Alex very much wanted to ask about his age, but Rose came in with, "What's a 'gravitationally elastic psyche'? And I, er, don't suppose you could explain it without a rubbish metaphor?"

The Doctor thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah. Doesn't matter, anyway." He started around the console, flipping things and pushing buttons. Lights around the central column started to fluctuate. "S'just another puzzle in the mystery. Piece in the puzzle. You," he emphasized, pointing at Alex now from the opposite side of the console, "are much more confusing than any _human_ has a right to be."

"Did you say we were leavin' her with mum?" Rose asked as the TARDIS took flight.

The Doctor nodded with a little "Mm."

Alex's heart sank right down to her toes. "We can't go on one more trip?" she tried. "Or... we never got to talk to the Face of Boe. Why did he call you? I want to meet him."

The TARDIS landed with a jolt.

"You're not put off by all that went wrong?" the Doctor asked, genuinely curious.

Alex shook her head.

"You almost died," Rose pointed out.

"So did you," Alex snapped. Rose raised her eyebrows. Alex flushed. "Um, is your arm okay?"

"Oh, yeah." Rose rubbed her shoulder, which was still in bandages. "It's just a cut now. Mum won't be happy about it..." She smiled wryly at the Doctor.

He wrinkled his nose. "Your mum isn't happy about anything," he grumbled, and started down the ramp to the door. "Come on, you two. Got some loose ends to tie up, and I'm sure the Face of Boe will be awake by now."

The hospital, they found, was already dealing with the first of the loose ends. The former plague patients had been rounded up, most of the nuns arrested, and nearly all of the patients were beginning to be transferred to a more legal hospital. When he asked, the Doctor found that the "new humans" would be taken into care and given basic rights as citizens of New Earth.

"Good." He nodded, voice high with relief. "Very good. Good for you, taking care of your own."

The police officer didn't know what to make of his response, so he just nodded and let them move on.

The Doctor was initially denied access to the hospital's database, but a flash of the psychic paper set things right. "Shows people what I want them to see," he explained when Alex expressed confusion. Then he set to work looking through everything. "Hospitals nowadays aren't _just_ hospitals," he said. "The Sisterhood should have more data on the human race and beyond than even the TARDIS. Oh, I'll make sure she gets into it, always expanding, but as of now..."

The Doctor really did have a habit of rambling on when he was busy. For some reason, Alex liked hearing it.

Unfortunately, the search was fruitless.

"Don't you need my DNA or something?" Alex asked, feeling a bit desperate.

"I put in your genetic code," the Doctor told her. "Got it from the TARDIS. There's just as much nothing here as there was there, and that is... saying something. This has way more information on humanity of the last four billion years— _way_ more." He frowned at her, once again viewing her as a difficult problem to be solved. Alex didn't like that look.

She decided to look for a way out. "Well, that's that. What else was there?"

Ward 26 was almost entirely empty. It was impressive how pristine it was after being previously filled with all those sick patients. Now, the only patient was— "The Face of Boe," the Doctor greeted fondly as they approached the back of the room. The face was, indeed, awake, not to mention smiling.

 _Hello, Doctor,_ he responded, and Alex shivered at the sound in her head.

"He's telepathic," Rose noticed, surprised. She looked at the Doctor. "I didn't realize."

 _I hope it doesn't make you uncomfortable,_ Boe hummed sympathetically. His voice was low. It felt like a bass guitar in Alex's head.

"Oh, we're fine," the Doctor assured him, raising his eyebrows at Alex. She nodded, and the Doctor turned back to the Face of Boe with a playful smile. "Weren't you supposed to be dying?"

The Face chuckled. _There are better things to do today. Dying can wait._ There was a very strong sense of hope and gratitude conveyed in those words. The Doctor's smile widened, and Boe continued, _I'd grown tired with the universe, but you, old friend, have taught me to look at it anew._

 _'Old friend.'_ Alex wanted to ask what that meant. She had so many questions... Perhaps the Doctor would let her interrogate him before dropping her back on Earth.

Then she remembered that he was going to drop her back on Earth, and her heart grew heavy again. She didn't want to stay with Jackie. Nothing against her, but Alex couldn't imagine a life any different from the chaos of the past two days, and she didn't want to have to.

The Face of Boe looked directly at her, and her inner contemplation ceased. Could he read her mind? As if in answer to this unspoken question, he sent the image of a secretive wink through his thoughts. Alex gaped at him.

"There are legends, you know," the Doctor went on, oblivious to the moment. He knelt down next to the tank. "Saying that you're millions of years old."

 _Well,_ the Face of Boe laughed, _that would be impossible._

"Wouldn't it just." The Doctor grinned. "I got the impression that you had something to tell me."

 _A Great Secret._ Boe nodded, although Alex wasn't sure how. Maybe he hadn't really. Maybe it was the same as that wink, and he was just projecting a nod on all their minds.

"So the legend says," the Doctor murmured.

It almost seemed like the face could have smirked as it replied, _It can wait._

"Oh, does it have to?" the Doctor complained.

Rose cleared her throat, obviously trying not to giggle.

 _We shall meet again, my friends,_ Boe said, _for the third time, for the second time, for the last time. And then the truth shall be told. Until that day..._ The Face of Boe trailed off, there was a high pitched buzz, and a blue glow surrounded him and his container. As they watched, he faded into light and was drawn up through the ceiling by teleport.

Alex felt the need to react verbally. "Huh."

"That..." The Doctor shook his head, impressed. "That is enigmatic. That is _textbook_ enigmatic."

"What's enigmatic?" Alex asked.

The Doctor stood and nodded at where the Face of Boe had been. "That. That's enigmatic."

"What did he mean, though?" Rose pondered. "'For the third time, for the second time'?"

"The second time he's met us, maybe?" The Doctor shrugged. "Time travel. Could be we meet his past self, sometime between now and when we first met him."

"When..." Alex stopped herself, but Rose and the Doctor were looking at her now. She took a breath and continued, "When _did_ you first meet him?"

"Oh," the Doctor graveled. "That's a bit of a long story."

"Why don't we tell it over ice cream?" Rose suggested.

The Doctor looked at her. "What?"

"Before we send her home," Rose explained, smiling. "Why don't we go for ice cream?"

"Well..."

Alex didn't have much of an opinion on ice cream, but she wouldn't pass up an opportunity to stay with them longer. "Sure," she agreed enthusiastically.

The Doctor seemed reluctant, but Rose tilted her head and smiled, and he lost the battle of will. "Oh, alright." He sighed and started toward the exit, stopping by an otherwise empty coat rack to grab his overcoat. "There she is. Come on, back to the TARDIS. What's your favorite ice cream place?"

"Well," Rose began, "there's this great place a few blocks down from my old job. You know, the one you blew up?" She nudged the Doctor's shoulder playfully. "Me and Mickey used to meet up there every day after work. Alex, you'll _love_ the chocolate chip."

"Will I?"

Rose went on, filling the air all the way to the TARDIS. Alex hadn't thought Rose had much in common with her mother the day before, but now she saw it. Rose was responding to the chaos and uncertainty of what just happened with jovial conversation. Deliberate or not, Alex appreciated the sound of her voice.

Five billion years in the past, the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Alex stepped out of a police telephone box tucked away in an alley just next to a dumpster. "What year is it?" Alex asked.

"The year before we left," the Doctor replied. "Summer of two thousand five, London, England, Earth, and there should be a _great_ ice cream place just around the corner."

Rose wrapped her arms around one of his biceps, and they grinned at each other. Alex felt a bit left out of the moment, especially now that she wasn't staying long, but she didn't say anything.

Their destination was a cozy little outdoor/indoor place called Muffins. Alex was just beginning to contemplate what flavor ice cream she might like when the Doctor suddenly stopped moving.

Rose looked up at him quizzically. "What is it?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, gaping at something through the window of the shop. Alex tried to see what he was looking at, but nothing stood out. She frowned at him. He glanced down at her, then around at the various empty tables. "Er, Alex," he finally said, "why don't you save us a spot out here? Rose and I will go order inside."

"What?"

"You don't know what you like anyway. Pick anyplace you prefer, alright?"

Alex opened her mouth to protest, but the Doctor had completely flipped back to that lighthearted, friendly demeanor he'd worn all the way here. A wall had gone up. She frowned irritably, but had to give in. "Alright. _Fine."_

She chose a seat with a good view of the counter inside and watched as the Doctor and Rose entered the ice cream shop. They stepped to the back of the sizable line, and Rose said something that was obviously an inquiry on what the Doctor was so worried about. He leaned close and nodded at something further in. Whatever it was, Rose put a hand to her mouth in shock.

Alex waited, but nothing particularly shocking revealed itself.

Someone stepped in line behind them and started up a casual conversation. They ordered their ice cream, and the Doctor began patting his pockets. He looked at Rose guiltily. She rolled her eyes. The person behind them tapped the Doctor's shoulder and offered them a bit of cash. With only a hint of apprehension, he accepted it and paid for the ice cream.

And that was it.

"So what was it?" Alex asked of them as they sat down at her chosen table. Rose handed her a large cone of chocolate chocolate chip ice cream.

"What was what?" the Doctor asked back.

"What was it that made you tell me to wait out here?"

The Doctor licked at his own cone, something blue with red sprinkles, and replied, "What? Oh, yeah, that was—mm." He paused to stop a trail of ice cream from melting over his hand. "Thought I recognized someone. Very personal. I was wrong, though. It wasn't her."

Alex looked to Rose. She was nodding in agreement. Then she nodded at Alex. "You gonna eat that?"

Alex looked down and realized her cone was already dribbling. "Oh..."

She didn't push anymore. Rose brought up the last time they'd met the Face of Boe, and Alex got the idea to change the subject: What about Bad Wolf? She hadn't gotten the chance to ask before.

"Now _that,_ " the Doctor said, "is a _long_ story."

Alex smiled and leaned forward.

Rose smiled cheekily. "Oh... Why not? She called me a wolf before. Maybe it'll remind her of something."

And so they told her the story of how 'Bad Wolf' had followed them everywhere, throughout all of time and space. Alex thought they did a very good job of making it interesting; the Doctor interjected where appropriate, and they added hints of other adventures—a child with a gas mask for a face, a spaceship crashing into Big Ben, and Satellite Five. They both hesitated there. They'd described how something had pulled them from the TARDIS, how they'd been forced into some kind of deadly future game shows for the entertainment of the "Fourth great and bountiful human empire," but then they just stopped.

Alex studied their faces. "What?"

Rose looked at the Doctor and spoke in a murmur. "We didn't mention the dalek..."

 _Dalek._

The name sent a shiver up Alex's spine. As she had with Rose and the Doctor and the sound of the TARDIS, she felt like she'd heard it before.

"They're a very dangerous species," the Doctor said slowly, not making eye contact. "They'd taken a hold of the human race, and they were building an army."

Rose seemed to relax, like the whole story was _much_ more complicated and _far_ less easy to swallow. Alex was fine with that. She didn't like the sound of daleks as it was—which was just as well, because, apparently...

"You _killed_ them?"

Rose blushed and grinned. "Yeah. Yeah, I s'pose I did."

"It was _really_ intense." The Doctor sat back, licking some ice cream off his bottom lip. He nodded at the memory, then shook his head. "Terrifying, but _very_ dramatic. You gave this whole speech..."

"Yeah?" Rose had already explained that she couldn't remember much. Now she leaned in, seeking answers from the man who'd seen it. "What'd I say?"

The Doctor stared at a space just above her left ear, thoughtful enough for it to not to look _quite_ like he was avoiding eye contact. "Just... a bunch of dramatic... stuff about... life and death, weakness and strength, lost and found. Honestly, I didn't understand half it. The TARDIS was killing you—you were prob'ly going mad."

Rose gazed at him, suddenly wistful. She tilted her head to the side. "I never thanked you. For saving me."

The Doctor met her eyes. He smiled. "Nah, you don't have to thank me. What else would I do? How could I _possibly_ get on without you, Rose Tyler?"

Alex felt her face heat up as she sat there watching the two of them fawn over each other. She remembered Mickey again and got even more embarrassed. There was a whole history here, she could tell. Alex really wanted to ask... but that would be rude, wouldn't it?

"So," the Doctor finally transitioned, "Alex. Does any of that sound familiar?"

She frowned. "Should it?"

"Bad Wolf," Rose said. "You called me _wolf_ when we met. Does any of that... ring any bells?'

Alex thought about it. She thought about it, and then slowly shook her head. "Maybe... Jack Harkness? That name stuck out."

"Oh, no," the Doctor groaned. He leaned way back in his chair to gaze up at the sky. " _Please_ don't tell me you know _Jack._ I don't even want to think..."

"It would make sense," Rose suggested, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Time Agency? Maybe they had something to do with it, why she's from modern day but doesn't exist. Maybe... she was born here and taken to the future?"

"That wouldn't explain why she has no biological family," the Doctor pointed out. There was a pause, and then he inhaled sharply. "Anyway, no use speculating. We'll figure it out eventually. You done with that?"

Alex was holding the end of a sticky waffle cone in one hand. She stuffed it in her mouth. "Yeah."

"Alrighty then!" The Doctor drummed on the table and stood. "Off we go, into the wide blue yonder." Rose stood up next to him, and Alex followed reluctantly as the man grinned and went on, singing now, "Climbing hiigh, into the sun!" Alex wondered if he meant that literally, or if those were just lyrics to whatever song that was. As she was finding to be the norm with her wonderings, she didn't ask.

When they got back to the TARDIS, the Doctor leaped to the controls. "So, where to next? Somewhere nice, I imagine. Something really cold or really hot, or maybe just perfect in the middle. Vacation-y is that—I'd like somewhere vacation-y. What about—" He yanked on a lever, and the TARDIS started moving, shaking violently as it had on the first trip. "—a space resort? Or a water park. There's an entire solar system called Water World made up _entirely_ of water worlds, literally planets whose surfaces are just one big ocean, and they've all been nationalized into one big park by the kavarl. Lovely people. Big teeth."

Alex stared at him. "Uh..."

The Doctor noticed her confusion and grinned. "What do you think? Are water parks your style?"

Alex gaped for a moment, then said, "I-I thought you were leaving me."

"Leave you? Nah, why would we do that?"

"I like a water park," Rose decided. "I haven't packed a swimsuit, though."

The Doctor fell forward with a sudden lurch of the TARDIS. Rose squealed happily, grabbing the railing, and Alex yelped as she fell back on the grate.

The Doctor pointed at Rose with an outstretched arm. "I have spares."

"Really?"

"I may or may not have accumulated swimsuits of all sizes for all ages and genders of the humanoid variety over the years."

" _Really?"_

"Oi, not like that."

The pair laughed, and Alex decided not to question this. Whatever had gone on in the Doctor's head to make him decide to let her come along, even if it was just one more trip, she was happy for it. In that moment, it didn't matter what had come before, didn't matter who she was. It didn't matter whether she had a surname or a family or a past, or why she'd thought she knew these people at first glance, or even how Rose and the Doctor had met the Face of Boe. It didn't even matter that she had nearly died, or that a lot of other people had died around her.

As far as beginnings went, Alex thought her life was probably going in a good direction from here.


	5. Our Children Pt 1

_A/N:_

 _Quick notes! First, I have carpal tunnel syndrome now. That held me up and will continue to hold me up from now on until I get new wrists (which I don't have insurance for). Sorry about that.  
_

 _Second! None of my notes will ever be important to the story itself, as that would be poor writing, but I have some wordy and irrelevant things I'd like to say at the end of the chapter, so stick around for that if you're curious._

* * *

It hadn't taken long for certain gaps to be filled in. Two days felt like an eternity, and Alex was pretty sure that, within that time, she had learned a lot about herself. She knew that she didn't like turkey or hugs, she knew that she had some semblance of a conscience, and she knew that she had a certain sense of wonder.

Her memories of these past few days were vivid and real and fresh, and she was sure they weren't supposed to be. She was sure they were supposed to fade, get rusty. She could only think of it in terms of if she were a dry, unused sponge, and every new experience were a drop of water. Because she'd come into this world so dried up, she was far from overflowing. Everything stuck.

Yes, Alex was definitely better at metaphors than the Doctor.

They did end up going to Water World. They stayed for two full days, bouncing between planets, avoiding any sort of world-shattering trouble. As it turned out, Alex couldn't swim, so the Doctor pulled some space cash from a space ATM with his sonic screwdriver to pay for some space lessons. Alex spent most of it floating face-down, staring out into space through the translucent floor. The instructors didn't like her very much.

Next stop was a planet made of coal and gas. It only existed for three days before the heat of its sun caused it to erupt in flames. They put on some high temperature resistant spacesuits and stood outside the TARDIS to watch it burn.

They'd only just pealed off the suits when Rose got a call from her mother. She gave the Doctor an apologetic grin and answered her phone. "Hi, mum."

The Doctor messed with some dials as she spoke.

"Yeah."

Alex moved closer to him.

"Of course. Yeah, of course I didn't forget."

The Doctor paused at the controls as Alex approached. She leaned in and whispered, "How does her phone work here?"

"Nah, nothing major. Yeah, I can come home."

The Doctor whispered back, "I upgraded it. With this." He waved the sonic about in one hand.

"Mum, it's a _time machine._ I'll walk in as soon as you hang up. How's that?"

Alex stared at the little silver tube. "How's it work, anyway?"

"Yeah, I will. I swear. Yep, I will. Love you, mum. See ya."

Rose hung up, and the Doctor rounded the console, hands in his pockets. "What's that, then?"

Rose waved her phone at him. "It's, um..." She took a quick breath and, with the very definition of a sheepish grin, said, "It's my birthday, apparently."

The Doctor didn't seem to know what to think of this. He murmured "oh" and turned to look at the console. He fiddled with something. "Oh. And... How old are you?"

"Twenty-one?" Rose giggled. "I don't even know. How long have we been travelin'? I mean... I did miss a year."

The Doctor shrugged. "We sorta made up for it, though, didn't we?"

Rose grinned and skipped up next to him. She put her hands on the edge of the controls. "Back to Earth, then?"

The Doctor deliberated for a moment. Alex thought he was upset by something, but then he smiled at Rose. "Back to Earth for Rose Tyler's twenty-first birthday," he announced. He threw a lever, and they were off.

When the shaking and stumbling had died down, Alex blew some hair our of her face."I think I've been on Earth less than anywhere else now. I mean, as far as I remember."

"An alien to your own planet," the Doctor agreed. Turned to Rose, he cocked his head at the door. "D'you want me to pop in, or shall I just...?"

Rose gave a little gasp and grabbed onto his arm. "Oh, would you, though? You won't have to stay terribly long, just for presents. And mum would _die_ if she didn't have someone to chew out at a party."

The Doctor snorted. "She'd love that, wouldn't she?"

"Come oon," Rose cooed, bouncing up and down on her heels. "Please?"

She batted her eyes, tongue stuck out at the corner of her mouth. She swung back and forth on his arm like a child. Her eyes sparkled. The Doctor looked down at her hands, clearly weak to her urging.

Alex took note.

"Oh," the Doctor groaned. "All right. If you insist."

Rose squealed. " _Yes._ Come on!" She started down the ramp. The Doctor grabbed his coat from the railing and followed behind Alex, who was rather excited to see what a birthday party was like. (Birthdays were like a family thing, right?)

The TARDIS had landed them in Rose's bedroom, nestled in the corner opposite the bed. Jackie met them, all hugs and joy and motherly head-kisses. Alex was momentarily overwhelmed by the all the attention the woman managed to give her in the five seconds between wishing Rose a happy birthday and demanding to know whether or not the Doctor would "get that smelly box out of my daughter's bedroom."

"Smelly?" The Doctor wrinkled his nose in offense.

"Well, who knows where it's been? Mind you, I'm glad you got my Rose home on time." Jackie let out a breath of exhaustion, threw her hands in the air and exclaimed, "Rose, sweetheart, you would not _believe_ what I've been through to make this perfect."

Rose gave the Doctor a knowing look, then followed her mother out of the room. "Come off it, mum. Twenty-one isn't that big a deal. What sorta trouble've you been through?"

"Are you kiddin' me? Rose, last time we celebrated your birthday, you still worked at that shop. We missed twenty! This is going to be the best day of your _entire life_. I even had Rachel Evens—that woman across the road? Lovely, she is. I told her to bring her kids 'round, and we got video games and everything, so Alex won't be left out—will you, darling?"

"Huh?" Alex whipped her head around. Jackie smiled at her from the hallway. Alex blinked. "Er, yeah. Awesome. Uh—wait, does that mean you don't want me at the actual party?"

The Doctor rapped his knuckles against the TARDIS doors. "I'm just gonna... move this," he murmured, then went back inside.

Jackie took no notice except to raise her voice as the time machine started up with its noisy departure. "'Course not, love. It's just something to do, you know? Don't want you being the only kid at the party. Speaking of which," she added, turning to Rose, "I actually rented out this place—Barnaby's? You've probably never heard of it. It just opened up a couple of months ago. It's _so_ cheap but _so_ classy. You get five rooms for _fifty pounds,_ if you can believe it, including games and catering."

Rose's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "Fifty pounds?" She laughed. "Oh, Mum, you've been had."

"I have not! I've been there myself, and I—Alex, get out here. I've got something for you."

Alex tore her eyes from the space where the TARDIS had been. "Coming!"

"I can assure you," Jackie continued, "this place is a _steal._ I've seen it myself, and I've checked with everybody. The company's got a good reputation!"

She led the girls out into the living room, which had lost its Christmas décor since they'd last been there. Alex wondered just how long it had been. When _was_ Rose's birthday? It couldn't have been just a few days after Christmas. Alex contemplated this silently as Jackie went to a big plastic bag on the coffee table and dug out a brown lump of fabric.

Rose gaped at it. "Oh, my God. _Mum."_

"What?" Jackie held up the lump so it fell into a recognizable dress shape. It looked like something made for a doll: completely plain except for its sleeveless, vaguely feminine shape. "I got something brighter for you, but I thought this would fit Alex perfectly. Come 'ere, dearie, let me see."

Alex didn't have a lot to say about dresses, but the look on Rose's face gave her the sense that there was something wrong with this one. Despite that, she approached and let Jackie hold the piece of clothing up to her front.

"There," Jackie trilled, "looks gorgeous."

"If you say so," Alex conceded as Jackie shoved the dress into her hands. She bunched it up and looked up at the women, expecting more conversation, but the room was suddenly quiet.

Jackie hesitated. "So... how's it gone? Have you found anything?"

"'Bout her?" Rose glanced at Alex. "Nothin' yet. We've had a hell of a time, though, haven't we, Alex?"

Alex blinked. "Yeah, uh, we went to a water park."

"A _solar system_ water park!" Rose began gesticulating as she spoke. "You know water worlds? They're planets without any dry land, and it just so happened these people, the kavarl, they set up this _huge_ park, and there—Mum—there were pools and water slides that went _between planets."_

It was around this part of the conversation that Alex began to relax and smile at the pair. She loved seeing how Rose acted with different people in her life. With the Doctor, she was curious and bubbly, but serious; with Mickey, she was kind but teased _constantly;_ with her mother, she acted like an excited child at times, a friend at others. In all cases, Alex was in awe of her level of confidence, in how it all somehow converged into a single personality.

Alex couldn't figure out her own personality. She felt like her lack of memories gave her a lack of anything to compare, no reason to behave with any particular variance.

 _'Variance,'_ she thought. _Interesting word._

But the Doctor had called her smart, and Alex could take note of at least a few emotional reactions she could have in certain scenarios. She was generally curious, at least. The fact that she found her own empty head fascinating had to say _something_ about her, right?

At some point, Jackie told the girls to go get changed. When Alex returned from Rose's bedroom, she found mother and daughter arguing in the bathroom.

"You invited him—are you nuts?"

"Mum, he's my friend. I can't _not_ invite him to my birthday party."

"He's an alien!"

"Mum!"

Alex approached the open doorway. Jackie stood with her arms crossed, watching Rose apply a lipstick that matched her hot pink dress. It looked more like a fitted shirt and matching skirt than a dress, actually. Casual, but really, really... pink... not unlike her bedroom. Alex immediately disliked it.

"Okay, it's not that he's an alien. He's the Doctor." Jackie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I know it's not his fault, but trouble follows him wherever he goes! Can't we have a bit of peace?"

Rose turned from the mirror, fully intending to chew her mother out, when she caught sight of the girl at the door. She flushed. "Alex! Hi."

"Hi." Alex frowned. "What's wrong with the Doctor coming to the party?"

"Nothing," Rose snapped. Alex blinked in surprise, and she looked apologetic. "Sorry, I- Mum, I promise you he'll behave."

Jackie deliberated. For a few moments, she met Alex's gaze, and Alex wondered what she was thinking. In her experience, the Doctor only ran into trouble about 40% of the time, and it wasn't on purpose. Maybe this kind of worry was a mother thing.

Finally, the mother sighed. "Alright, alright. He can come. Like I have any choice..."

* * *

On the outside, _Barnaby's Parties & Menageries_ was a cinder block of a building. Inside, it was overkill. There was a heavy lilac scent, and a dozen or more fluorescent lights imitated sunlight. The inner-architecture gave the impression of elegance with its white walls and flowery designs. The entrance hall was big enough to fit a crowd, but they weren't getting much patronage at the moment.

Near the back, a small counter stood before a row of oddly colorful doors. There, Alex had no trouble spotting the dark smiling woman against the rest of the building.

"Hello," Jackie called in greeting as they approached.

The woman stood with a radiant smile. "Jackie, love, it's so nice to see you again! And is this the birthday girl?" She turned to Alex with a patronizing grin.

Jackie laughed. "Oh, no! That's Alex. This is my daughter here." She moved to put a hand on Rose's arm. "Rose, this is Joan. She showed me 'round last time."

Joan's smile almost faltered, but managed to undo the damage with a flourish. "Rose Tyler, how very nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Rose took the proffered hand.

Joan tilted her head at Alex. "So that would make this your temporary charge? Hello, Alex."

Alex didn't like her tone. It sounded patronizing. She decided not to respond.

Joan didn't seem disappointed. Amidst some light conversation, she led the three of them through one of the doors in the back. They entered a very small room between the front room and another set of doors.

"Beyond those doors," their guide announced, "lies the best night of your life." She grinned at Rose, then looked at Jackie. "And yours." She turned to Alex, and her voice became mysterious. "And _yours_. Well, tootles!"

And with that, the bubbly woman returned to her post.

"She's a bit much," Rose commented.

Jackie waved dismissively. "Oh, don't be like that. Can't a woman like her job?" She gestured at the inner doors. "Shall we?"

"We shall," Rose agreed. Taking the cue from her mother, she approached the doors and pulled them both open at once.

From within came a sudden blast of noise— "HURRAH!" —and the air filled with silver and pink confetti, balloons of every color, and the amicable chatter of the dozen or two people waiting inside to greet them.

Rose immediately adapted to the crowd. She stepped in and thanked people, greeting them by name. Jackie began the necessary introductions, and in two minutes flat, Alex was surrounded by doting middle-aged women.

"Alex, is it?" someone behind her said. She turned and found an older brunette approaching with a young boy in tow.

"Rachel!" Jackie exclaimed. "I wondered where you'd gone off to. How are your little ones?"

"Enjoying the kiddie room," Rachel assured her. "Percy wanted to meet the new girl. Say hi, Percy."

The little boy was about Alex's height, had a tuft of black hair on his head, and wore expression like he was either nervous, angry, or about to fart. "'Hi, Percy,'" he squeaked.

Alex thought she'd have found that adorable in any other situation.

That was when the Doctor appeared. No one had seen him come in, but he must have already found the snack table, because he had a toothpick in his mouth as he stepped into view.

"Hullo," he said cheerfully.

Alex's prison cell of women parted to look at him. She bolted out of the circle. "Doctor!"

"Hi, Alex." He laughed bemusedly when she latched onto his arm. "What's wrong? You're acting like you've seen a dalek."

Alex blushed and pulled away. "Not a fan of crowds," she muttered.

The Doctor seemed to find that amusing, but before he could say anything about it, four or five women broke out in a collective, "Aww!"

"Is this her father?" a blonde woman asked, grabbing Jackie's arm to get her attention. "You told me he was out of the country!" She leaned in close to add in a very audible whisper, "You didn't tell me he was _cute."_

Jackie saw what was going on and jumped into action. "Oh, I didn't see you come in. Er, yes, Sarah, this is her _father."_ She raised her eyebrows at the Doctor. "Rose surprised me by inviting him last minute. Turns out that _business trip_ wasn't so important after all."

Pushing down obvious surprise, the Doctor forced a smile. Through clenched teeth, he said, "Thanks for the introduction, Jackie."

"Don't mention it," Jackie replied, sickly sweet.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Alright. Where's Rose? I don't know anyone else here—don't want things to be _awkward."_

Obviously taking the emphasis as a threat, Jackie pointed off in some direction. "Rose said she wanted to get a look at all the rooms. I think she started over there."

"Right, thanks." The Doctor turned away.

Alex jumped to the chance of escape. "Yeah, I'm coming with!"

There weren't as many people at the party as she'd initially assumed. Most of them had gathered around Jackie, leaving a few stragglers to wander about the rooms, none of which were separated by anything resembling a door. The first room was something of a central hub, with snack tables and a sound system that no one had set up yet. The ceiling was high enough so the balloons the guests had initially set free didn't obstruct anyone's view.

The next room over was a game room. It had a pool table, a ping-pong table, a few other tables Alex didn't recognize, two vending machines, and some arcade machines that no one was using. Rose stood near the other end of the room, arms crossed as she chatted with a familiar man at a small plastic table.

"Mickey!" the Doctor called over. "I see you made it to the party. Surprised you didn't get lost in the parking lot."

Mickey turned his gaze ceiling-wards. "What's he doing 'ere? I thought this was gonna be a normal visit."

"Don't you start," Rose growled. She turned to the newcomers. "About time you got here. I was just sayin' to Mickey: Mum's gone _insane_ renting out this place. I mean, have you seen the rooms? Just over there, it's a kiddie room—full on Chuck E. Cheese. Two rooms over, and you have a _bedroom._ There's a kitchen, too, and the staff are _way_ too friendly—"

"And I," Mickey cut in, "was sayin' to _her_ that it doesn't matter. I mean, it's a bit cool, isn't it? A bedroom at a party? You all in pink, you could throw a pillow fight."

"Oi!" Rose slapped his arm. He laughed. "Shut it, you."

"Glad you're enjoying yourself," the Doctor commented. He cocked his head at Alex. "Just saved this one from your mother and her friends."

"Ever the hero."

"Snack table's set up nice," the Doctor continued, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Tasty hors d'oeuvres. And, um..." He glanced around aimlessly. "Games. Good. Games are good."

"You're bored," Rose said.

He dropped the pretense and groaned. "I'm a nine-hundred and one year old Time Lord; I don't _belong_ at a human party. I mean, do you even call this a party?" He swept the room with a critical eye. "People... walking about... doing... _nothing_... _chatting._ And there's a huge pile of presents in the front room. I don't even _know_ these peop—"

Rose pressed a finger to his lips, and he stopped. "D'you wanna play some pool?" she asked quietly.

The Doctor grimaced. "Pool?"

"Or... table tennis." Rose shrugged. Her finger was still on his lips. Mickey didn't look very happy about that. "There's a ball pit in the kiddie room," Rose went on. She bit her tongue playfully. "That sounds right up your alley."

Mickey rolled his eyes and slapped a hand on the table. "Right." He stood up. "I'm gonna go find the cake. See if I can't nick some early. Don't wait up."

"'Kay," Rose replied. To the Doctor, she pushed, "Well?"

Mickey hesitated. "Hey, Alex. You wanna come with me? Give the love birds some space."

Alex frowned, still very confused about the whole romance situation. She didn't want to leave the Doctor and Rose, but there also wasn't anything happening—so maybe, she thought, it would be in her best interests to spend some time with someone else for a change. The Doctor and Rose didn't seem to care either way, so she nodded and followed Mickey back out of the room.

"Why does Rose seem to be dating both of you?" she asked as soon as the others were out of earshot.

Mickey started. "What—I... No she's not!"

"She kissed you," Alex said. "And she gets all... flirty with him."

"Does she?" He twisted his head around as if to catch them in the act. When that gave him nothing, he turned back to the space ahead of them. "When they're out adventurin', do they really act like they're... together?"

"Um..." Alex wasn't sure how to respond to that. For some reason, she had assumed Mickey was aware of the situation. "Should I not have said anything?" she asked nervously.

Mickey took a moment to respond. They were in the middle of the front room now, and Alex's stomach gurgled at the sight of the snack tables.

"Oh," Mickey finally stammered, "Oh no, it's fine. You didn't do nothing wrong. It's just..." He paused, then sighed. "Complica'ed. Nothing you should be worryin' about at your age."

Alex pulled a face. "What does it have to do with my _age?_ Are you dating or not?"

Mickey stopped and turned to her.

"Sorry," Alex said quickly. She got quiet. "I seem to do that a lot. I'm not sure why."

"Tell you what," Mickey decided. "Why don't we go steal some cake, find a spot away from the action, and tell each other all about what's been goin' on?"

Alex thought that sounded like a bad case of avoiding-the-question, but she also thought that pushing for answers might be rude, so she agreed.

They found the cake in the kitchen, where Mickey was able to cut them each a piece without any of the staff noticing. There were adults in every room now, so they found a green plastic table in the corner of the kiddie room a good distance from where the other kids—four of them—were fighting in a castle-shaped bounce house.

Alex remembered now why she'd enjoyed Mickey's company on Christmas. He made little chatty comments despite her silence, didn't ask her to talk, and spoke in the same tone of voice that he did with everyone else—unlike Jackie or those women from before, or any of the aliens back on New Earth or Water World. Alex had figured by now that the reason so many people treated her differently was due to her age, and she didn't like it. She preferred some semblance of respect.

"So how was the adventurin'?" Mickey asked once they'd settled down with their cake. It had pink frosting with little white and purple flowers. He'd gotten a corner piece. "Did you find out who you were?"

Alex shook her head. "The Doctor said we'd find out eventually. I'm not really sure why they let me keep coming with them after the first trip..."

"First trip?" Mickey echoed. He frowned. "How long have you three been out?"

"Three days. Well, three and a half. We went to New Earth first. It was..." She paused. The memories of that day, so vivid, came flooding back. She grinned. "It was beautiful there. But after the plague patients—"

"Plague patients?" Mickey looked vaguely horrified.

"Y-yeah." Alex caught herself pulling bits of cake apart aimlessly. "It wasn't huge, and the Doctor fixed it, but then he said he'd drop me back off here. He said his judgment was impaired because... post-regeneration something. But then we just..." She waved her fork around, sending frosting flying. "...went to a water park. Like it never happened. I think he's planning on letting me come with 'til I find out who I am, but I'm not sure why. He said they could technically do it without me."

"That's... weird."

Alex took a bite of cake. It was marble, which she liked. "Yeah, but I'm not complaining. I love it. If I'm honest..."

Mickey cocked his head. "What?"

Alex shook hers. "Nothing." She shivered. "It's weird not knowing who I am. At first it was kinda like I was... empty? Then I sort of... filled. But there's also a lot of space. I'm not sure if it's because of what I'm seeing, or if it's something from my past coming back. Am I talking too much?"

Mickey gave her a half-smile. "No, not at all. It's a nice change, actually. You were a bit quiet back at Christmas."

Alex returned the smile. She couldn't think of much to say after that. Mickey sensed her reluctance and began filling the air with trivial stories of what had gone on while they'd been off in the TARDIS.

It was boring, but not _uncomfortably_ boring.

A few minutes passed, and Alex began to tune out what Mickey was saying to her. She began daydreaming about being back on the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose chattering to each other, the sounds of the machine, that comfortable, safe feeling... the violent turbulence.

 _'Hey, Alex,'_ the Doctor would say, _'How's about I teach you how to fly?'_

 _'Wait, really?'_ she'd reply, aghast.

 _'Sure, why not? C'mere, lemme show you.'_

"Alex?"

Alex jumped, knocking her plate with one elbow. Her fork fell to the floor. Her face flushed. "Y-yeah? Sorry. Zoned out."

Mickey snorted with laughter. "Time for presents." He jerked his head at the door. "Didn't you hear?"

Alex looked up. All the kids had left the room, leaving her and Mickey alone. From somewhere close by, she heard the call, "Time for presents! Everyone in! Come on, come on—gather 'round!"

"Oh," she said. "Yeah."

Mickey stood to leave. "Come on then."

Alex began to follow, but something made a sound behind her, and she turned. The room was still empty. All that remained were the ball pit, the bounce house, a few games, some tables, and a set of anthropomorphic animal animatronics in the corner. None of the games were active. The bounce house was still, and the robots were off. But she could have sworn...

She shook her head. This was Earth. The Doctor had said it: No one even knew about aliens before last Christmas. Nothing strange was happening here. Today was simply Rose Tyler's birthday.

* * *

Rose Tyler was vaguely concerned about something. She wasn't sure what—surely not the party; that was phenomenal—but she couldn't help feeling oddly anxious.

"This place is just weird," she said aloud.

"Whatever gave you that impression?" the Doctor asked, spinning his cue stick like a baton. He took a shot and missed. "The hodgepodge party rooms? The paint peeling off the walls? The moldy kitchen?"

Rose looked up with a start. "Moldy kitchen?"

"Mm. I don't want to be here when your mother finds out." The Doctor leaned on his stick and pulled a face. "When's presents?"

Rose frowned. Something didn't feel right. But nothing could be wrong, could it? She was at home, with her mum. It was just... "Just a cheap place," she murmured.

"What's that?"

"Nothin'." Rose shook her head. It finally hit her that the Doctor, the nine-hundred year old Time Lord with a super genius alien space brain, was doing very poorly at pool. She raised an eyebrow. "Have you been goin' easy on me?"

"What? Psh! _Never_."

Rose snorted. "Come on, Doctor, we're playing for real."

A few minutes later, Rose's mum called everyone into the front room for presents. The Doctor put on a show of being relieved. He _moaned_ about how _bored_ he was, and how he had this or that idea for their next trip, but Rose saw the way he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, how he smiled when she laughed. He was exaggerating to entertain her. Not that Rose had any problem with that, but it was... different. She still had a lot to get used to.

"Is everyone here?" Mum asked, and the room quieted down.

"I believe so," replied a man whose name slipped Rose's mind. A neighbor, she thought.

"Hold on," Mickey said. "Where's Alex?"

Rose frowned. "I thought she was with you."

"Yeah, she was right behind me. She prob'ly got distracted. I'll be right back. Don't wait—"

" _AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"_

A blood-curdling scream ripped through the air, followed by a series of horrified squeals.

"Who screamed?" Rose demanded. Her lungs contracted as an undertone of panicked whispers built into another shout—

"Where's Percy? Where's my baby?"

The Doctor bolted. Trusting his instincts, Rose followed. She was ready to run until they'd found the problem, but her friend stopped short in the kiddie room and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He began walking in circles aimlessly, muttering under his breath.

Mickey ran up next to Rose. "Please don't tell me this is an alien thing."

"I don't know," Rose said breathlessly. "Doctor?"

The Doctor turned off the sonic near the back corner of the room. He turned to face them, and his gaze locked on something behind Rose and Mickey. Rose turned to find the rest of the party-goers gathered in the doorway.

"Oh." The Doctor sounded disgruntled.

"What's happened?" Rachel all but yelled. She had three out of her four children gathered close around her. Rose noted the panic in her eyes. They'd never spoken much, but Rose got the impression that Mrs. Evans was an emotional lightweight. She cried, "Where's Percy gone?"

"Right." The Doctor assumed what Rose was starting to recognize as his no-nonsense stance. One hand in his pocket, feet apart, head lowered—he addressed the group. "Unless we can identify where Alex and Percy have gone right now, I think it's safe to assume that we just lost two children to an eighth class dimensional shift."

There was an outcry of panic at his words. Rose hadn't known it was possible for such a modest crowd to make such a noise.

"Now— _now!"_ Mum shouted over the others. "Everyone calm down! We'll get this settled. We're not _sure_ they're gone, now, are we?" She gazed around the room, then shouted, "ALEX? PERCY!" The room went silent. Everyone strained to listen for a reply. When none came, Mum turned to the Doctor, a pained look in her eyes that borderlined fury the likes of which only Jacqueline Tyler could produce. "Doctor," she said, clearly straining to keep her voice down, "tell me this isn't one of your... things."

The Doctor's eyes flashed with something Rose almost would have said was fear. Knowing her mother, she wouldn't have been surprised, but he managed to contain it. He even managed a snippy retort. "Would you rather it not be something I can handle?"

Mum gaped indignantly. "What—you know what I meant," she exclaimed.

The others began talking over each other, asking what she meant by "your things," why they were all so calm, like this had happened before, crying for the bathroom (in the case of the Evan children).

Rose couldn't take it. "Oi!" she shouted, and the room quieted. She exhaled sharply. "Right then. Party's over. Everyone out."

"I'm callin' the police," Pauline, a former friend from work, announced. She already had her phone out, but Rose jumped forward and grabbed it out of her hand. "Hey!"

"No," Rose said firmly. "No one calls the police. The Doctor's got this handled." She turned. "Don't you, Doctor?"

"My _son_ is missing!" Rachel protested.

Rose turned back. As she spoke, she heard the sonic start buzzing again behind her. "I know, Rachel. Believe me, I know. But the Doctor—he deals with this kind of thing. It's his... job. You get me?"

Rachel looked uncertain.

George, her husband, tried to clarify. "What, like he's from some kind of government agency?"

Rose was about to either confirm or deny this—she wasn't sure which—when the Doctor shouted, "Rose!" and ran past her. "The signal is fading. We need to get to the TARDIS."

"Right." Rose started to follow, but Mickey grabbed her arm.

"Hold on," he said. "You can't just _leave."_

She tugged her arm away. "Why not?"

"Because..." Mickey didn't seem to know what to say. He was so uncertain, so distressed. Rose felt her insides melt for him.

"Alright." She placed a hand on the side of his face. Lowering her head for maximum desperate girlfriend effect, she said, "I need you to take care of things here, Mickey. Make sure no one calls the police."

"Why not?"

"You saw what happened to the Sycorax when the authorities got involved." Rose backed away from him. "Take charge," she said. "I know you can do it. I trust you."

And she ran.

"' _Nothing_ will happen to her,'" the Doctor exclaimed when Rose turned up in the TARDIS. He began fiddling with the console. "'It'll be fine! There'll be nothing to worry about until she knows who she is.' When did I get so gullible?"

"Maybe they're safe," Rose suggested. In the same moment, the Doctor announced, "Locking on!" and the TARDIS was set into flight.

"Maybe," Rose continued with a grunt as she grabbed a railing for support, "the point was not to worry when something _did_ happen."

"Erg, maybe," the Doctor replied. He flipped a switch that sent them lurching to the side. "There are some things I can be sure of, but even if it was truth, it's not _fixed._ Just because some potential future brought us here doesn't mean that future's bound to happ—oh, no!" He cut himself off and dove under the console, from which he pulled a very large mallet. To Rose's shock, he proceeded to bang on the controls. "Stop—don't—!"

" _What?"_

The TARDIS came to a sudden halt, then grew still. The Doctor looked up at the central column. "It's gone."

Rose stepped closer. "What's gone?"

"The origin of displacement," the Doctor replied. He glanced around, lost. "Wherever those kids ended up—a ship, or a pod, or maybe just some other space—it's gone. It must have... teleported away." He exhaled slowly. "Whoever we're dealing with, they don't want to be found. Which means they were expecting trouble, which means they have nefarious purposes. Not to mention," he added, dragging an exasperated hand over his face, "they're capable of creating a highly advanced dimensional shift. That wasn't teleport energy I sensed back there; it was displacement. They were still in the room, just on another plane, maybe another _second—_ I don't know... But now they're just—" He snapped his fingers.

Rose groaned, leaning heavily into the control console. "I would be _so_ into this if we hadn't just lost a kid we're s'posed to be responsible for."

The Doctor smiled ironically. "Happy birthday, Rose Tyler."

* * *

Trouble with the Doctor was now at 50%, and Alex was sure she didn't like this kind of trouble. The creatures were gone, and she wasn't bound, but she was trapped in a cage like a prison cell, complete with shabby bed, sink, and what she assumed to be a toilet. The room outside the cage was mostly small and empty, with white walls and a sliding automatic door.

" _I want Mum."_

Oh, and then there was the other cage. That kid, Percy, had been taken too. He'd screamed and cried at first, but after realizing no one cared how much noise he made, he had lowered his volume to a whimper. Now he sat fidgeting on the cot in his adjacent cage.

He made Alex uncomfortable. Discomfort became irritation. Irritation became her response to his complaint: "Yeah, and I want a personality. We can't always get what we want."

Percy blinked. "What?"

Alex didn't respond. She paced in a circle. She went to grab one of the bars, but a blue light shocked her fingers. She hissed and sucked on them, only to find that they hadn't been burned. Cautious, she tested it again. It didn't hurt; there was just an uncomfortable tingling sensation. Failing to push a hand through the bars, Alex went to the door of the cage. The creatures hadn't done anything to lock it, but it wouldn't budge. When she pushed on it, more light burst from the contact points.

"Did we get kidnapped by aliens?" Percy asked. His voice was small and high pitched, and it didn't help with Alex's anxiety.

She ignored the boy and tried to find where the force field could have originated from. The cage was a normal cage (aside from the force field) with steel bars and everything, so the controls and power source must have been elsewhere. Then she spotted it: By the door on the other side of the room, there was a black box attached to the wall.

"Ally?" Percy pushed.

"It's Alex," she snapped. "And... yeah, I think we have."

"Why?"

That was a good question, Alex thought. Then she frowned. Wasn't she the one usually asking questions? Percy was looking at her for answers. Alex had no one to look up to here, no one to rely on. She shivered. She had to deal with this on her own—and worse, she had someone _relying_ on her dealing with it.

She swallowed. "Right. I don't know. But we have to get out of here. Um... can you put your hand through the bars?"

Percy got off his cot and tried to reach into her cage. The light zapped at him, and he yanked his hand back with a yelp.

Alex looked around the room again. There _had_ to be something she could use. She almost went to check her pockets, then remembered that she was wearing a dress, which didn't _have_ any pockets. Her face flushed with annoyance. "Percy," she said. "It's Percy, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have anything on you?"

"U-uh..." The boy stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and pulled out an old candy wrapper. "No."

He was starting to shake. Alex didn't want him to start crying again. "That's all right." She spoke in the most soothing voice she could muster. "Uh, maybe it's useful. Here, give it to me." She'd said this without thinking, and immediately scolded herself for how completely stupid it was.

Percy didn't seem to recognize how stupid it was. He approached the bars to shove the wrapper into her hands. It poked it through easily. The force field rippled, and the wrapper fell to the floor.

Eyes wide, Alex knelt to pick it up. "It went through."

Percy blinked. "Oh. Why?"

She went back to the cage door and carefully slid the wrapper between the bars. It went through without a fuss, but when her fingers reached the center of the gap, she couldn't go any farther. She bit her tongue. "Maybe living things can't go through?"

"Oh."

Alex was sure she was about to have some kind of impressive epiphany when the door across from them slid open, and every thought about escaping went out the window as one of the creatures stepped into the room.

The thing was tall, grey, and furry. Alex could almost have said it was bipedal, but its legs split oddly at the knees, resulting in four feet and (one, two, three) four backwards knees in addition to the two above the split. It had arms like a person, only its fingers were long and ended in a set of white talons; its eyes looked human, but it had a short muzzle, and when it opened its mouth, it revealed a set of vicious canines. Then it spoke, and its mouth moved in ways that indicated an intelligent alien language.

Still, Alex thought, she couldn't be discouraged. Maybe it spoke English too. She remembered what Rose had said about asking questions and called out, "Hi!"

The thing jumped like she'd startled it. It quickly lifted a finger, rested a talon on its muzzle, and made a "shhh" sound.

From behind it came another creature of similar shape, this one slightly shorter. The thing that had shushed them moved into the room while the thing behind turned and backed inside. Alex was confused at first, but then she spotted the object in its hands: something black and silver with a barrel like a gun.

 _They're not supposed to be here,_ Alex realized. She approached the bars, watching curiously as they moved about.

Thing One went to the box on the wall. It opened it to reveal a set of buttons and switches, then it turned to its companion and said something in a harsh, whispering voice. Thing Two hissed something back. It pulled something from an invisible pocket in its fur and handed it to One. One took the thing, a bit of strangely shaped metal, and slid it into a slot in the box. There was a click, and both cages in the room popped open.

Before either human could move a muscle, Thing Two shot its gun twice. It hardly made a sound, but there were two flashes of light, and the floor inches in front of each child's feet was singed black. The thing said something and gestured with its gun. Alex didn't need to speak the language to understand: _Get over here or I shoot._ She obliged. Percy followed.

"Hey," Alex tried again, this time in a whisper. "Do you speak English?"

Thing One shushed her again. Thing Two gestured with its gun, and the children were forced to follow them out of the room.

Alex didn't like feeling helpless. It gave her the sense that nothing she did mattered. It made her feel like she didn't exist. She preferred to exist, to have autonomy.

The things nudged Alex and her companion down metal corridors, through empty rooms, and up empty stairwells, the gun always on their backs. She tried to get their attention a few more times, but it was always met with a harsh "SHH," or a poke in the back. She thought of running, but this place was a labyrinth, and they were probably in space anyway.

The only thing she had any control over was the little boy with her. Percy shook the whole way, letting out involuntary whimpers whenever the creatures shoved them around a corner or into a small room. The first time it happened, he heard the passerby they were avoiding and started to scream, but Alex clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Do you want them to shoot us?" she hissed. "They got us out of there. They might be the good guys."

"Wm mh phd ys ht s?"

Alex yanked her hand away. He'd gotten spit on it. _Gross._ "What?"

"Why would the good guys shoot us?"

Alex was saved from having to give a quick answer when Thing One pushed them back out into the hall. She took a moment to think, then replied, "Could be too dangerous. Could be we give them away, we all get killed. Could be they only kill us if we put them in danger."

That didn't seem to help Percy's mood, but he kept quiet after that.

Alex wasn't sure how much time passed like this, but it felt like an odd eternity before they stopped at a round sort of bulge in the wall. It looked like a large metal egg had been shoved into it from the outside, complete with bends and folds all around it, bits of metal that looked sharp and broken, bent inward. Thing One placed a hand on its surface, and a warm glow spread out from the area, encompassing the shape until the front of the egg was just... gone. On the other side was an odd little sitting room with black walls and black leather seats that curved around the small interior.

The creatures nudged them into the egg. Alex and Percy sat next to each other, hearts hammering in their chests as one of the creatures tapped the floor, causing a sort of control hub to rise into the room. It reminded Alex of the TARDIS, if much smaller, much less complicated, and much less impressive.

The alien (it _was_ an alien, Alex noted to herself, not just a "creature") pressed several buttons, and the wall reappeared to close them off from the metal corridors. It did some more things and pulled a lever out of the hub. A holographic screen opened up in front of it, but Alex couldn't tell what it was from behind the image.

The egg jolted into action, and the children were nearly thrown to the floor. For a few moments, Alex got the distinct sense that they were moving very fast, and that they were moving _away_ and _down_ in relation to where they'd been. Then the momentum caught up with her, and she wasn't sure anymore. The creatures visibly relaxed. They grinned at each other. One said something to the other, and they made a sound that could have been interpreted as laughter.

A feeling resembling frustration welled up in Alex's chest. "Who are you?" she blurted out loudly. The creatures gave her a cursory glance, but otherwise ignored her. She felt her face redden. Her voice shook as she added, "You could at least _try_ to communicate."

One of the aliens—she'd lost track of which was which—said something short and dismissive in that odd language. The other one raised its eyebrows at her, nodded to get her attention, and shushed again.

Alex tensed. Right now should probably have been about the time when the reality of the situation hit her hard, when the fear finally set in. With the way she was being treated, though, the emotion that floored her now was almost rage. She snapped at the alien, repeating its strange noises to the best of her ability in an angry, mocking tone, then crossed her arms.

Percy gave her a questioning look.

She rolled her eyes like _Can you believe him?_ For the first time, Percy smiled. That felt good, Alex decided.

Her anger began ebbing away, which left room for a simmering anxiety to push itself to the forefront of her mind. She was left pondering her limited options. To her dismay, the most likely scenario of escape seemed to be that the Doctor and Rose would come save them. Since they hadn't come yet, and they had a _time machine,_ she was having trouble not assuming they never would.

The aliens spoke a few times while they waited to get wherever they were going. Once, they even got a call on the hologram; the head of another alien creature appeared suddenly in the center of the room, startling Percy visibly. (It startled Alex too, but she refused to believe she had shown it.) One of the aliens turned the hologram so it could see the humans, and it nodded, clearly approving of their capture, then disappeared without another word.

Alex began wondering what the aliens wanted them for. Were they invading? Slowly capturing humans until there were none left? If so, why were they still alive? Were they going to recruit them in the invasion somehow? Did they want to experiment on them? Eat them? Keep them as pets? Each new idea sent another wave of terror through her. She was beginning to feel dizzy.

Just three feet away from her, Percy Evans was doing his best not to get stuck on his own internal roller coaster. Unnoticed, he watched his mysterious new friend as she glared at various points in the air, occasionally seeming to grow bored. He was secretly entertaining the idea that she, herself, was an alien, and that she had been hiding out disguised as a human from the intergalactic police. He wasn't sure whether to be glad he was with her, since she seemed to know what she was doing, or upset about getting mixed up in her problems. Either way, a small part of him was curious to find out more.

The rest of him wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

* * *

"Hi, we'd like to speak to management."

Rose smiled warmly as the Doctor presented the lady at the front desk, who hadn't seemed to think anything was amiss when they ran out earlier, with the psychic paper. He was a bit awkward with it now, not like he'd been in his last... body. He pushed the alien object too close to their victim's face, forcing her to go momentarily cross-eyed. Rose wasn't sure if it was deliberate or not, but she found it oddly adorable.

Bewildered, Joan plucked the leather booklet from the Doctor's hand. She moved it away so she could read it. "You're... criminal investigators..."

The Doctor snatched the psychic paper back to stow away in his coat pocket. "That's right, miss..."

"Chansley. Joan Chansley." The woman turned to Rose, who had to suppress her amusement at the pure confusion on Joan's face. "Weren't you...?"

Rose frowned indignantly. "What, can't cops have birthdays, Miss Chansley?"

"No! I mean, of course!" Joan laughed at her own flustered reaction. When she stopped, it was with a composed smile. "What seems to be the problem?"

"That would be classified information, Joan," the Doctor said brightly. He gave her a professionally mischievous wink and continued in a low whisper, "But between you and us, you may want to start job hunting."

Joan's smile wavered, but she nodded. "Right. And you... wanted to see my manager. Right this way." She turned to lead the pair out of the room through a door marked _Employees Only._

Rose paid special attention to their environment as they stepped into a carpeted hallway. She saw it all now—the stains on the rug, the musty smell, the flickering lights. Nothing had changed, but she was only just now noticing the decrepit state of the place. Why hadn't she before?

As if reading her mind (although, she thought, he might actually have been), the Doctor leaned in and whispered, "Perception filter. A weak one, but it'll fool an inattentive human well enough."

"And you," Rose breathed back.

"I noticed the mold," he pointed out.

"But not the teleport," Rose countered.

"How could I?" the Doctor argued.

"I dunno, maybe with your _superior_ _alien_ _brain_ ," Rose mocked.

"What was that, miss?"

Rose looked up, startled by the new voice. They'd come to an open doorway. The door itself hung precariously off its hinges. A man stood within. He had sharp, blond hair, a chiseled chin, and sparkling blue eyes. He smiled, and his teeth shone. Rose was almost taken aback; this man was _handsome._

" _Perception filter,"_ the Doctor breathed in her ear, so quiet even she barely heard it. She shook her head to clear it. Upon second glance, the man was actually pretty average. His hair was a mess, and he had a considerable acne problem.

"Oh." Rose hesitated. The man was waiting for a reply. "Sorry." She gave him a fresh smile. "Just some friendly banter. You know how it is. Colleagues."

The man gave them a professionally fake smile. "Quite. Now, er, what are you..." He trailed off as the Doctor flashed him the psychic paper. The smile faltered. "The... you... I-I..." he stammered. His face went from white to red, to purple, to green. (Not the alien kind, though Rose had met at least one of each color.) The Doctor lowered his hand, expressly baffled, and had opened his mouth to speak when the man bolted.

"What—" The Doctor turned the psychic paper to see what had scared him. His face turned white. "Oh, no."

"What?" Rose asked, but he was already thirty feet down the corridor. She ran to keep up, leaving poor Joan Chansley behind. "Doctor, what did it say?"

He didn't reply. Instead, he put on another burst of speed as he turned a corner and then let out a victorious "Ah HA!" Rose caught up to find the Doctor with his hand tight on the blond man's wrist.

"Let me go!" the man cried. "I've done nothing wrong! I just run a business, that's all!"

The Doctor yanked him back. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me why you're so afraid of the Shadow Proclamation."

Rose gasped, "The Shadow Proclamation?"

The man whimpered. "I was—I just heard it mentioned. You're some kind of extra terrestrial authority, aren't you? Look, I don't know anything, I swear. All I know is I get to profit from a cheap party business. They don't tell me anything else. I don't ask questions!"

"Who's _they?"_ Rose asked sharply.

"The... the Tirmus," the man whispered. His eyes flicked about, as if he'd just uttered a purely evil word.

 _Purely pathetic,_ Rose decided.

"The Tirmus," the Doctor echoed thoughtfully. He let go, and the man stayed put, cowering.

"What is it?" Rose asked. "Do you know them?"

"Never heard of 'em," the Doctor replied. He didn't sound all that concerned, but Rose knew better. "What's your name?" he asked the stranger.

"S-Steve," murmured Steve.

"Steve," the Doctor chided, "how are you in contact with the Tirmus?"

Steve's gaze flickered between Rose and the Doctor. "I'm not," he replied, marginally less nervous. "They only contacted me once. Took me aboard their ship, told me what to do, told me they were vigilantes."

"What kind of vigilantes?" the Doctor asked.

"They said they were scientists."

Rose cut in, "I thought you said they were vigilantes."

"They are," Steve insisted, then backtracked, "Well, they said they are. Something about rescuing slaves. They're using places like this to gather information about humanity, they said, so they can learn our history, about our society or something."

"'Or something.'"

"Well, I don't know! I know it doesn't make sense. I know it sounds like a nonsense lie, but I just agreed for the profits!" Steve sniffled. "I was poor. You have no idea..."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at Rose. She sighed in agreement. He turned back to Steve. "Alright, Steve, you won't be punished. _If—"_ He raised a pointer finger. "—you give us all the names of all the places the Tirmus have under their control."

"But—"

The Doctor flashed his psychic paper again.

Steve deflated. "Yes. Yes, I will."

* * *

Meanwhile, Jackie Tyler was planning a murder. The Doctor's murder, to be precise—though it wasn't really murder, was it? No, she could say it was self-defense. Who could argue that any alien trouble going on right now wasn't his fault to some degree? He turns up, kids get abducted, Rose runs off, and who has to deal with the aftermath? Jacqueline A. Tyler, that's who. Oh, Mickey tried to help, but he was a bit useless at controlling a mob. And that's exactly what she had to deal with: a mob.

"Why _can't_ we call the police?"

"Where are the children?"

"Is it the management?"

"Are we in a secret slaughterhouse?"

"Jackie, I know you never liked me very much, but isn't this a bit much—"

"—horrible scream!"

"—where did Rose—?"

"And if we don't—"

"—the Doctor anyway?"

"Who does he work for?"

"I heard this place was no good."

"—hot spot for pedophiles—"

"You think—?"

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Jackie's voice cut through the din like a serrated knife. Her guests' voices petered out, and desperate eyes began to turn to her for answers. She swallowed. "Now, I know today isn't going as planned, but I can assure you Rose will fix this whole mess."

"What'd you mean?" Beth Darling, the darling, was doing that funny thing where her voice went just a bit too high with insuppressable emotion. (Not that Jackie was one to talk.) "Jackie, what do you mean Rose'll fix it? Where did she and that doctor go?"

"It's... Well..." Jackie caught Mickey's eyes and jerked her head in a general _help me!_ direction.

"Oh." Realizing all eyes were on him now, Mickey clapped his hands together, like he does, and smiled. "Yeah, see, Rose an' the Doctor have this thing, um..." He trailed off, held up a finger, and moved closer to Jackie. In a hushed whisper, he asked, "Is there a reason we can't just tell 'em about the whole space alien thing now?"

Jackie thought about it. She shook her head. "Not that I can think of, except—would they believe it?"

"How can't they? You've had gossip with every one of 'em about the Christmas invasion, haven't you?"

"True." Jackie sent him a brief smile of thanks before facing the antsy crowd of miserable party guests. Her own heart ached for whatever danger those children were in, but she had to be strong. For Rose. "Al'right," she began, meeting everyone's eyes in turn. "You might not want to believe this, but do you all remember what happened on Christmas? Everyone standin' on the roof?"

A few people nodded. Most notably: Beth, Rachel, and Gwen. Everyone else had, at one point or another, insisted the whole thing had been some kind of mass hallucination or government cover-up. Though most of them did make vague motions of affirmation.

Jackie let out a breath of relief. "Well, the one that stopped it, who sent the aliens off—that was the Doctor.

"What?"

"He deals with this kinda thing," she insisted. "He and Rose. They do it all the time."

"Do they?"

The entire party turned as one to this new voice. It was Joan, the nice lady at the front desk. She had on a perfect smile, and she leaned forward with the air of someone who knew they hadn't been invited. She paused just long enough for everyone to acknowledge her presence before, pointing to Jackie with a loose finger, she said, "I'm sorry... Just came to check everything was okay. Those two that left a few moments ago...?"

Jackie started to respond, but Mickey pushed in front of her. "Just, uh—family emergency. A-as for the screams, that was just a couple kids makin' a racket." As he spoke, Mickey sent a warning glare back at Jackie, then another over the confused group. Then he smiled. "Sorry for the noise, ma'am."

Joan furrowed her brow quizzically, but there was little else she could say. She nodded. "All righty then. Let me know if you need anything. It's a slow day." She gave them one last grin, then turned and left.

Silence followed her to the door. The moment they heard the click of it closing, the party erupted once more into overlapping concern. Jackie was quicker to act this time: "QUI-ET!"

The room quieted.

She turned to Mickey with one of her I'm-going-to-need-an-explanation-right-now-or-else glares. He raised his hands for a moment, then gestured wildly out the door. "She could be in on it. This—" Their guests started to interrupt, and he whirled on them. "Now, look. Think about it. This place was cheap as 'ell, right? And it just popped up overnight, what, a month ago?"

"Two months ago," Jackie corrected.

"Right, whatever. Popped up two months ago, goin' cheap, and now some kids are... What did the Doctor say? Dimensionally shifted?" Mickey raised his hands again to quell any hasty responses. "Look, all I'm sayin' is: We should be careful. If we call the police, they'll know we're onto 'em, and what if they _are_ aliens? The best thing to do right now is lay low and leave it to Rose."

 _I could have said all that,_ Jackie thought to herself as her various friends and neighbors began to relax and nod at Mickey's words. "Right then, you lot. Let's take this home, and I'll give Rose a ring. Come on, back to my house. I'll make tea. Come on!"

* * *

Alex decided, purely for convenience and not at all because she found it reassuringly amusing, to call these furry aliens "catbugs."

The catbugs had a system in place for the process of rescuing/kidnapping other species. When they'd gotten to wherever they were going—that being another ship of much the same metallic design as the first—they led the children into a crowded room of other aliens. Alex noted immediately that not all the aliens were catbugs; many were much smaller creatures, some with scales, some with feathers, and some with skin. A few even looked human, but Alex couldn't be sure if they were. Whatever the case, every other non-catbug being had guns trained on them just like Alex and Percy. Another thing she noticed was that they all came in pairs, which she felt was probably relevant somehow.

Despite the fact that no one was physically bound with cuffs or ropes, the whole process was going very smoothly. What appeared to be check-in points stood at the end of the room, each with an orderly line leading up to it from a back wall where various egg-shaped pods poked through. It was difficult to see from where they stood at the back, but Alex had to assume the retreating figures at the front of the lines were leaving the room through relevant doorways, or maybe teleports.

The weirdest thing about all this was the smooth jazz playing over an invisible sound system. Even Percy stopped being scared to gesture at the noise and give Alex a quizzical look.

Their catbugs nudged them forward at gunpoint. Alex expected to be taken to one of the lines with the others, but their captors had something else in mind; they led the humans to the side of the room where more catbugs stood guard. The guards stood dressed in blue uniforms that ended at the knees like odd dresses—unlike the other catbugs, who all wore grey to match their fur.

The guard they approached looked down at the children with interest, then spoke to their guides. The one not holding a gun said something in response, gesturing with its sharp talons.

Alex looked around for anything similar going on. There wasn't. "What's so different about us?" she murmured.

Percy gave her a curious look.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said quickly.

Alex briefly entertained the idea of asking the kid what he was thinking, but it didn't seem like the most pressing matter at hand. She had to figure out what was going on. Once she'd done that... Well, she wasn't sure what would happen after that, but that was surely what Rose and the Doctor would do. She focused on the aliens' body language, trying to get... _something._

After some brief, urgent conversation, their catbugs were joined by the blue guard catbug, who led them (still at gunpoint) and their captors to the back of the room, bypassing all the lines. Alex caught more than a few curious and confused stares from catbug and captive alike, but no one stopped them.

They found a row of check-point stations at the back, each with another catbug (these ones in red) standing at attention. They would greet each pair of catbugs, listen to whatever they had to say, and then let them pass through to one of a dozen or so open doorways. A few led to hallways, others to staircases going up or down. The doorway on the far left side of the room, to which they were heading, was closed.

The red-shirted alien nearest them called over from their station. The blue-shirt with them called back, and all seemed to be resolved.

They stepped up to the closed door. The blue-shirt pressed a hand against a seemingly random part of the door's surface, and it dissolved away like the pod had before. Beyond was a small room, obviously an elevator.

 _Not elevator,_ Alex reminded herself absently. _Lift._

They entered the lift.

Alex started shifting her weight nervously from foot to foot as the lift descended. The catbugs weren't ignoring her now; the blue-shirt glanced down, then spoke to the one without the gun, who gestured at Alex and said something else.

She decided now was as good a time as any to call their bluff. "So what's the plan?" The catbugs paused their conversation to look at her. She felt a flush of anxiety, but tried anyway to put on the sort of confident grin she'd seen on Rose so much these past few days. "You're not taking us in like everyone else. Where are we going?"

The catbugs exchanged a few looks, murmured to each other, and went quiet. They did not acknowledge that she'd spoken beyond that initial glance.

Her shoulders slumped in disappointment. She grumbled wordlessly.

Percy spoke up. "Have you done this before?"

Alex glanced over at the sound of his voice, then quickly redirected her gaze to the creatures. They didn't seem to be taking notice. She turned back to Percy. He wasn't shaking or crying anymore. She wondered if he'd gotten over the shock, or if he'd gone numb from it.

"Kind of," she finally replied, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. She wanted to say more than that, but no words came to her—nothing that would make it seem even remotely like she knew what she was doing, anyway. The best she could do was give Percy a reassuring smile and hope he wouldn't ask for details.

Her hands were beginning to shake. She really wished she had pockets.

The lift dropped them off in what must have been a whole different section of the ship. They were at the end of a corridor of metal walls, like before, but with the posh bonus of a series of crystalline chandeliers on the ceiling and a green patterned rug. The effect was an oddly familiar atmosphere, like one of the hotels back on Water World.

It was quiet down here, Alex noted, quiet enough to hear the gentle hum of what must have been the engines. Or maybe they were physically _close_ to the engines. Would that be pertinent information? She wasn't sure. It might have been best to just file away everything.

The catbugs were quiet as they led the children down the hall. There were a few closed doorways, all without any apparent way of opening them. Alex had to assume they were like the door of the elevator and the pod, that they'd dissolve away at a touch. She really wanted to try it out, but intuition told her that wouldn't be the smartest move.

They reached the end of the hall and turned right. The guard opened a nondescript door on their left, then leaned in to speak. A new voice responded. The guard backed away, and a slightly smaller catbug (emphasis on _slight_ ) in purple exited the room. The door re-materialized behind it.

Alex desperately wished she had some way of communicating with the creatures. They were all looking at her and Percy now. To her shock, the purple-shirted one knelt on its weird legs so its head was almost equal with hers. It looked her right in the eye, and it said something soft, slow, and deliberate.

 _It's trying to talk to me,_ she realized. This was her chance! She had to think fast, do something clever.

"Um," she said intelligently.

The thing spoke again, repeating the same awkward sounds it made before.

Alex felt her hand move absently to grip her other elbow. "I don't understand you," she said. Her voice shook a bit, much to her chagrin, as she added, "I don't suppose you have some kind of translator?"

The thing shook its head and repeated the same phrase as before, this time gesturing obviously at its own torso. That's when it hit her what the thing was doing. Heart pounding, she tried to repeat the strange words.

The catbug actually _smiled._ It nodded and gestured obviously at her.

Alex couldn't help but grin as she mirrored the alien and replied, "I'm Alex. You're—?" She repeated the sounds.

The catbug nodded again and stood. Their captors had a brief exchange. The purple-shirt nodded back down the way they'd come, barking what sounded like an order, and the other three made a strange gesture with one hand before moving away from Alex, Percy, and the new alien.

Purple-shirt regarded the human children with wide eyes and an expression that Alex couldn't read. It said something, its voice soft, and gestured for them to go off in the opposite direction to the others.

"What's it saying?" Percy whispered as they allowed the catbug to herd them down the corridor.

Alex frowned indignantly. " _I_ don't know."

"But you were talking to it."

"I—" Alex cut herself off, confused by his assumption. "I was just repeating what it said. I think it wants to communicate with us."

Percy frowned, but he didn't argue. He didn't even seem to be trying to think of a way out of this. Alex half-wished she'd been kidnapped alone.

* * *

Back on Earth, the Doctor was doing some modern sleuthing. Well, from Rose's point of view, it was sci-fi sleuthing, but it was certainly modern somewhere in the universe.

He had dug some kind of machinery out from somewhere in the TARDIS. They looked like big orange traffic cones with electric tubing hanging off them. Rose watched from the TARDIS console as he babbled about his plan whilst furiously cleaning old dust and grime off each one.

"It's simple, really," he prefaced. "No matter how sophisticated the technology, you can't wipe away every splattering of evidence when you shift dimensions like that—not without a matrix of time, anyway, and no one has _that_ anymore (well, except me)—so alls we gotta do is get a good grip on each location—" The Doctor blew at the top of the cone he was working on. "Place one'a these bad boys nearby, assuming they've actually _used_ whatever it is they're _using_ to disappear all the kids—not that it's necessary, just very very helpful." He set down the last cone and stood up straight to look Rose in the eye. "To triangulate the point of origin."

Rose smiled and let the Doctor wait for her to say something impressed. Then she asked, "Do you remember when we landed in World War Two chasin' that space ambulance?"

The Doctor blinked. "Uh, yeah. 'Are you my mummy,' yeah, I remember. Why?"

"D'you remember how that night began?"

"Er..." He squinted as though struggling to recall. "With a... bad blitz joke? No—you got stuck on a blimp."

Rose smirked. "No, before that, when you wanted to go askin' about for the alien thing, and I wanted you to use some kind of alien technology to find it. You could've used something like this, couldn't you?" She nodded at the mess of traffic cones and wiring on the floor.

For a moment, the Doctor looked almost offended. _Almost._ Rose wasn't sure she knew this face well enough yet to tell if he had, but the next immediate expression was easy enough to read. He grinned. "Well, I was a different man back then," he quipped, and then snatched up one of the cones. "Back in a mo."

Not thirty minutes later, the Doctor was working at the controls with a sort of manic focus. After the intrigue of the new gadgets had faded, Rose was getting worried again.

"You _sure_ you don't know who this is already?

"I'm sure." He looked at her indignantly. "I don't know _everything_ about the universe."

Rose snorted. "That's a first."

The Doctor chose to ignore that.

Rose leaned over the console to get a look at the screen. She didn't know what any of the numbers or symbols meant, but she liked to feel like she had some clue. "So where are they?"

The Doctor moved around the controls to type something into the number pads. "Not sure," he admitted, "but there _was_ a massive object just out of orbit not forty minutes ago."

"You mean it's gone?"

"Yep, but I can still do this." With a flourish, he set the TARDIS into an especially bumpy flight.

When they'd landed, Rose blew some hair out of her face. "Where are we, then?

"Hopefully," the Doctor began, which was never a good sign, "something resembling a broom cupboard."

"On the ship?" Rose asked.

"On the ship," the Doctor confirmed. He bounced onto the ramp next to Rose, took her hand, and dragged her to the TARDIS doors. "Where we _should_ find our missing children. There's no reason for them to have been killed. I mean, with reality disturbance like that, they could have just sent them into _non-_ reality. Why go to the trouble of kidnapping them first?"

"Fair point," Rose agreed, secretly relieved. The Doctor gave her hand a little squeeze, and—

They exited the TARDIS to the sound of a screaming alarm.

Rose's first thought was that they'd been seen, but that couldn't be, since they were in a small, empty room. Success. This left them with the question of what had actually set off the alarms, not to mention the problem of doing whatever it was they were going to do with the ship's crew on red alert.

Then a thought occurred to her. "You don't think that has anything to do with Alex, do you?"

The Doctor half-shrugged. "Nah, I doubt security is so lax a child could cause such a disturbance. And I doubt she'd try. She's probably just waiting for us to come rescue her."

Rose laughed, and the Doctor gave her a startled look. She stared at him. "Are you serious?"

The Doctor glanced around, confused. "Have I missed something?"

Rose scoffed in disbelief. "Where was your head just _two days ago_ when she got us kicked off Water World's luxury planet?"

"We were what?"

"Alex nearly flooded the hotel we were staying in— Doctor..." Rose paused to laugh. "How'd you miss that?"

"Well I was..." The Doctor glanced about for some response. "I was... very interested in their ice rinks. Is this really the time?" Turning from Rose's continued giggling, he approached the door and leaned in to listen. "Let's hope she's _not_ involved," he said, almost too quiet to hear over the alarms, "because... I _think_ I hear gunshots."

Rose stepped up next to him and strained her ears, but she didn't hear anything. "I don't—" she began, but was cut off when the door slid open. A flood of light entered the room, and the alarm blared even louder.

The pair jumped back as a looming figure stepped between them and the light. It took a moment for Rose's eyes to adjust, but from the get-go she was fairly certain the figure wasn't entirely humanoid. When she saw clearly, she took little comfort in how right she'd been. The alien's face looked like a conglomeration of human and animal features, its legs reminiscent of an insect. It wore something black on its grey torso, the fabric stiff and shapely and ending like a dress just above its knees. Its hands, huge and claw-like, grasped a large, alien gun that Rose thought was massive overkill.

The alien entered their line of sight pre-poised to shoot. Fortunately for the intruders, it was just as surprised to see them as they were to see... him? Rose couldn't tell. The alien of indiscernible gender lowered its gun. When it spoke, its voice was oddly loud—not like it was yelling, but like the volume was simply turned up. "What are you doing in here?"

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a glance.

"Glad you asked," the Doctor replied as he turned to face the creature. He began to pull out the psychic paper. "My name is the Doctor, this is Rose, and we're..." He began to raise the open wallet, but must have thought better of it, because he tucked it away with a smile. "Here to help. Seems you've had a bit of a kerfuffle. Security problem?"

As if in answer to his question, the ship lurched to one side, sending Rose and the Doctor sprawling. There were various metallic creaking sounds, explosions, and at least one distant shout before Rose was able to reorient herself.

"Technical problem, then!" the Doctor grunted as he leapt to his feet.

The alien looked frazzled, but he (the voice seemed male to Rose) hadn't fallen. Rose figured that probably had something to do with his four taloned feet.

"How..." he began, but he was cut off by a shout from his left.

"Cury!" The alien turned, and the front half of another alien, indistinguishable to Rose from the first, came into view. This new alien glanced through the door, then did a double take. "Wh-what are humans doing in an escape pod?" This one's voice was feminine. Rose trusted the TARDIS to be making it easy for her.

"I don't think they are human," the first alien, Cury, hissed. With an even more literal _hiss,_ he added, "That one spoke."

He pointed, and the Doctor waved. "Hello!" he called, raising his voice to be heard over the alarms. "Yes, I spoke. She can speak too." He gestured at Rose with his head. "Say hello, Rose."

"Hello," said Rose.

"She _is_ human," the Doctor noted, walking forward in a deceptively casual manner. "And you've just added a third—no... fourth question to my growing list of questions." He stopped in front of Cury's gun, which had risen defensively as he spoke, and leaned into it. "Why do you think humans can't talk?"

Rose barely heard the question over the sound of the alarms, which were beginning to give her a headache. When Cury and the other one didn't immediately respond, she asked, "What are those alarms about?"

The aliens jumped at her words. "Right," Cury said, turning to his companion, "Kouy, go help Dad. I'll deal with them."

Kouy gave the Doctor and Rose one last glance, then nodded. "Be careful," she said, and ran off.

The distant-but-not-so-distant sound of gunshots punctuated the conversation. The Doctor jabbed his head in the direction of the noise. "Sounds like you're being attacked," he observed loudly. "Don't suppose it has anything to do with the children you kidnapped from Earth?"

Cury tensed. "I think you're the one who should be providing answers here. What are you?"

"Time Lord," the Doctor replied—no hesitation, voice low, almost threatening. How he could even be heard over the noise was beyond Rose.

Cury's reaction was almost comical. His eyes widened, pupils dilated; he almost dropped his gun. He scrabbled to get a hold on it.

Rose crossed her arms smugly. "Heard of 'em, have you?"

"Y-you can't," he stammered, staring at the Doctor in disbelief. "The-the Time Lords, they... They're not... Why are you here? Look," he added before either of them could think of responding, "I-I'm not in charge, okay? And I'm a kid. I'm not—"

"Hey, hey— _hey."_ The Doctor raised a hand to calm the creature, but it didn't seem to do much. He was shaking. "Cury, is it? Listen, you're not in trouble. Just take us to the captain of this ship, and everything will be fine. All right?"

Cury's eyes flickered between the Doctor and his gun. It was obvious what he was thinking. Rose stepped forward abrasively. "Don't bother with that," she told him. "If you know Time Lords, you'll know that gun is useless, and you can't shoot the both of us."

The distant gunshots stopped somewhere in the middle of Rose's argument. Now the alarms suddenly ceased, and Cury glanced down the corridor with an expectant sort of panic in his eyes. An intercom boomed, " **The danger has passed. Minors report to your station for further instruction.** "

"Right," Rose decided. She nodded at the disembodied voice. "You'd better report to your superiors, then, hadn't you?"

* * *

It occurred to Rose that this might have been her second birthday in a row that she'd spent on a spaceship.

This particular spaceship was built like an upside-down mansion in space. They'd come in on one of the upper levels, a metallic series of corridors whose purpose the Doctor had either deduced or tricked their guides into explaining (it was so difficult to tell) was cargo.

"They're all children," he realized, suddenly, about a minute into a brief lapse of silence—a record, as far as Rose could tell. They passed one of the Tirmus dragging a small, green child roughly by the arm through one of the sliding doors set at equidistant intervals along this particular corridor. They had passed a few similar scenes before, but none of the aliens had looked so _human_.

Rose whirled on Cury. "You're kidnappin' children?"

"Not children," Cury insisted. He refused to meet her eyes. "Younglings."

" _Younglings,"_ the Doctor echoed, voice full of vitriol. "You mean you don't see them as people, is that it? Use language that makes them sound like animals—makes it easier to haul them onboard like... what, a commodity?"

Cury didn't answer. He was the one with the gun, but Rose got the feeling _they_ were the ones marching _him_ through the ship. It wasn't a bad feeling at all.

They entered a lift that sat in an indention in the wall, a sliding door just like the rest of them. It took them down, down, down through the ship and opened into a corridor with very different architecture. Here was where it was built like a mansion: Posh, lit up, nice carpets, wide corridors, proper furniture, and no scattering about like on the upper levels.

It was nice, but their little trip through the living quarters of the ship came to a very quick end.

"Cury Tirmy," a voice barked almost the moment they'd stepped out of the lift. From their left came an angrier, larger, female version of Cury, her legs churning beneath her as she stormed down on them. She looked over Rose and the Doctor as if sizing them up. "What are full-grown humans doing aboard?" she demanded.

"They're not—" Cury began, hissing under his breath.

Rose noticed that he actually had a couple of very tiny ears on the top of his head, both of which were currently pressed so tightly against his scalp that they created obvious indents in the fur. She glanced at the Doctor, hoping he'd noticed this surprisingly adorable feature, but he was too busy interrupting the young alien.

"Time Lord, actually," he announced.

Rose had never heard him use the name of his people with such authority before, but it had the same effect here as it had before. The female creature's eyes widened, and Rose would have bet five quid she'd gone pale under her fur.

Then she blinked, and her face hardened. "You lie."

"Wanna bet?" the Doctor challenged. "Because I recognize you. You're not the Tirmus. You're the voy."

Intrigued by the venom with which the Doctor had said that name, Rose tapped his shoulder. "What's 'the voy'?"

"It's a name..." The female creature trailed off. A dark horror crept into her eyes. "A name that died with the casualties of war."

It suddenly hit Rose what they were talking about. "You mean the Time War."

When this invited only tense silence, the Doctor asked, "What's your name, by the way?" He nodded down at himself, then at Rose. "I'm the Doctor. This is Rose."

The creature took a solid four seconds to respond. "Joy Tirmy," she said stiffly. "We _are_ the Tirmus, Doctor. That's our name; that's the _plural._ We're a clan. The last clan of the voy."

The Doctor looked slightly startled. "The last," he echoed softly. There was a moment of pause, and then, as if to remind himself she was there, he leaned over to direct his next words at Rose. "The voy were a race of traders, their entire planet dedicated to the input and output of goods. Over time, they were caught up in wars—Sontaran, bane, even Dalek... It was just bad luck, really, and their resources—and this changed them, see. They had to adapt."

Rose glanced at the Tirmus, expecting one of them to cut in around now, but neither seemed keen on interrupting the Time Lord.

"They got involved in the wars," the Doctor went on. "Had to, to make themselves valuable, deter the opposing armies from destroying them in the crossfire. They started sending more and more ships off-world, collecting resources through illegal means. Well, what legal means would get them home fast enough? Not to mention, in most systems at least, it is very, _very_ illegal..." He sent a dark look toward Joy. "...to trade in slaves."

"Legalities," Joy spat. "What are laws but that which protect the property of the rich?"

"In most cases," the Doctor said sharply, "I'd agree with you. But some laws are there for a reason. And I see, even now, you're still doing it. Still kidnapping young members of less advanced species for... What? Another war? After what happened in the last one?"

"No!" Cury cried defiantly. Rose had almost forgotten he was there.

Joy made a sound between a hiss and a growl that Cury took as a hush. "Enough of this," she barked. "I know for a fact that your world is no more. The war is over. You cannot enforce anything."

The Doctor looked offended. "Who said anything about force? You can stop this on your own, send all these children back to their home planets, find another way to make a living. Go back to the old ways or something, I dunno."

"You may have had power on Gallifrey, Doctor." She spat out the name of his planet. "But the universe doesn't turn to the sound of your voice."

A horrible chill settled in Rose's stomach. She had never heard anyone else speak the name of the Doctor's planet, not like that, not with such vitriol. The Doctor's eyes darkened. Rose held her breath.

"No," Joy continued, and her voice became more calm, collected. "You can't harm us. But you did get on board somehow, and I'm aware of Time Lord tricks. You appeared after the Earth harvest. Did we collect a favorite human of yours?"

The Doctor exchanged a glance with Rose. "You offering to give us Alex in return for leaving you to your slave business?"

"It's not slavery," Cury piped up again, and Joy sent a silencing glare at him.

Rose was too curious not to pry. "What do you mean it's not slavery?" she asked. "And what's it for if not war? You said 'no' to that a minute ago."

"Good point." The Doctor nodded. "Very good. If you're not desperately providing for war, then why _are_ you still doing this? Who _needs_ interplanetary slaves anymore? 'Cause I tell you what, this operation is incredibly illegal, and considering the technology you used to take those kids, I'd say you're more than aware. _Where_ and _why_ is this still in demand?"

Joy and Cury went silent. In the distance, Rose could hear sounds of bustling activity in other areas of the ship.

"Well," Joy finally huffed. "It's clear that you don't intend to leave quietly. Cury." She beckoned him over. When he approached, clearly nervous, she reached out for his gun, and he handed it over. She glared at the Doctor. "One last chance, Time Lord."

The Doctor tensed. Not visibly, but Rose could feel it; he was preparing to run. "Now," he said firmly, "there's really no need for that—"

She didn't give him time to change her mind. Raising the gun with swift confidence, Joy fired at Rose.

* * *

Tay had spent her entire life questioning things.

She'd questioned her parents, her teachers, her bosses; she'd questioned why it was necessary to go to school every day, why no one ever talked about other planets' people, why everyone had the same last name. When she was old enough to work, she questioned the purpose of their trade; she questioned why some of it was alive, and why no one was allowed to know where it was going; she questioned their secrecy, why a mysterious government always hung over their heads with rules and laws that they lived to break.

Once she'd run out of other things to question, Tay started questioning the effects of what they were doing on the animals they captured. Naturally, she had ended up developing a conscience. It was a relief to find out she wasn't alone, and then it was a thrill to actually _do_ something about it.

Her name was Tay Tirmoy of the rebel clan, and she believed in animal rights. She believed they deserved respect. Most people, to her dismay, did not. Even those who cared for the animals did so with the firm belief that said creatures could never understand the cruelty they were saving them from.

It was therefore a delightful surprise when a young man interrupted her meeting to tell her that he had questioned something new: whether or not level five planet beings were actually animals.

 _The home world should care regardless,_ Tay thought half-bitterly to herself. _But this could be big._

Leaving the meeting to those more strategically competent, Tay brought the human younglings straight to her most trusted engineer. She found him eating lunch in his quarters, eyes glued to a hologram at the opposite end of the table.

"Lenny," Tay called, and the young man jumped, narrowly avoiding the loss of a rather large bowl of soup. He scrabbled to turn off the holoplayer.

"Geez, okay. _What?"_ He turned to stare at her irritably. A moment passed. Tay waited for him to notice the humans. "What?" he snapped again, and she nodded at the small creatures beside her. When Lenny saw them, his ears folded in shock. "What are you doing with these animals?"

"I need you to translate their language."

"You... what?"

The Tirmos engaged in a four second staring contest. When Lenny blinked, Tay said, "They're intelligent, Lenny. This one spoke." She gestured at the long-haired one. This one had been watching the exchange with clear curiosity; now it straightened its back as though preparing for inspection. Tay couldn't help the fangy grin that spread across her face as she added, "And understands body language. This could be huge. If they've developed complex language, the Tirmus are engaging in slave trade."

Lenny stared at her. "Don't you think we'd know by now if they could speak?"

"No one's ever checked," Tay enthused. "Besides, this was their first human harvest. Different creatures, different temperaments. The guys who brought them to me said it _mocked_ them."

"Mocked."

"Yes. Look." Tay knelt to face the long-haired human again. It gave her its full attention. She pointed at it and repeated the sound it had made in reference to itself earlier. Its eyes immediately lit up, and it spoke rapidly until Tay held up a finger. She pointed to herself, said "Tay," then pointed at the engineer. "Lenny." The human, clearly excited, repeated both names.

Tay turned to her colleague.

Lenny frowned. "Its language _does_ seem complex."

"Right?" Tay stood up and gestured excitedly at the creatures. They both flinched. She withdrew her hands. "Sorry."

The long-haired one said something in response. She didn't understand it, but the tone and context made her think it was something to the effect of, "I forgive you."

She gave Lenny a meaningful look.

"All right, all right. I have a few translators I haven't sent back yet. Let's see if it works on them." Lenny stood and moved over to the door on the opposite wall. "Has anything been decided on what we'll do if they are intelligent?" he queried as they entered his sleeping room, where he kept his projects and assignments on various cluttered tables. He approached one and started rummaging.

"Not as such," Tay admitted. "I took them straight to you. I don't really trust the higher-ups to bother looking into it without more evidence."

Lenny gave her a look.

"What? I _care_."

"Of course you do," Lenny grumbled. He'd found the translators, three over-sized rubber collars with spiked plugs in the back, each a different faded shade of purple. "One of these is still broken," he muttered, weighing them as if to test their functionality. "Not sure which... Oh, well." Shifting the collars to one hand, he picked up two, small clips and tossed one to Tay.

She caught it easily. "Aw," she moaned, "I thought you were getting rid of these."

"Yeah, I have five of these." He waggled the collars at her. "I'm working on that with the other two. They're over there... somewhere."

The engineer attached the tiny clip to one of his tiny ears. Tay did the same and took the proffered collar from her friend. The humans watched with varying levels of nervous fidgeting as she knelt before the short-haired one. Its eyes widened. It stepped closer to its companion.

"Maybe..." Lenny hesitated. "Maybe try the other one first."

The long-haired human was already opening its mouth to speak. Tay held the collar out, and it took the device without hesitation. It murmured something to the other human, then pressed one of its short, fleshy fingers against the spikes on the inside. It looked up at Tay.

"Oh, like this." Tay took the translator back and mimed putting it on like a color, spikes on the back, then returned it to the human. It looked suspicious, which was fair. She had just asked it to press scary spikes against a vulnerable part of its body. But if the human understood that she was trying to communicate, Tay thought it would obey.

The humans had a brief exchange, and the long-haired one tensed. Tay thought it was going to bolt, but it just closed its eyes and wrapped the collar around its neck, touching the ends together as she'd shown it. Instantly, they merged and began to tighten. The human squeaked, reaching for the thing around its neck, but the size change had been too quick; it was on.

The human slapped a hand to the back of its neck. Tay held her breath as it opened its mouth and spoke.

"Pain."

It said more words than that, but "pain" was all that came through the translator—that and some odd static that tickled Tay's ear. She looked to Lenny, wondering if this was the broken one. Before she could ask, he was already kneeling behind the human, who stood very very still as he adjusted the collar.

"Ah," he said. "There's the problem. Okay, let me just..." He took a small wire from his pocket and fiddled with the device. The short-haired human said something very quiet to the other. The long-haired one didn't respond, but it yelped when Lenny stood up again.

"OW," it said sharply. "That _hurt_."

Tay clasped her hands together giddily. "It works!"

The human looked up at her, startled. The short-haired one spoke. The other, rubbing the back of its neck, turned to it. "I was right. It's a translator. Not sure how it works, though."

"You guessed!" Tay exclaimed. The humans both jumped. "I knew it. You are intelligent."

The human made an odd expression. "Of course I'm intelligent." It pointed to the thing on its neck. "How does this work?"

Tay looked to Lenny for answers. He blinked. "Erm, well, I don't think you would understand..."

"Maybe not," the human said—sharply again. Tay wondered if this was something else wrong with the translator, or if the human was just really irritable. "But I won't if you don't tell me."

"Wow," Lenny deadpanned. "I imagined language, but... Wow. We... we were selling slaves. And worse," he added, realization dawning on his face. "They're children. By Celeste..."

"By what?" the human echoed. "By world?"

Tay frowned at the device on the human's neck. "Not a perfect translation, huh?"

The other human said something urgent to the one with the collar. The collared one replied, in a warning tone, "It kinda hurts," and the other shrank back. It shook its head. The long-haired one smiled. "I'll translate for you."

Tay was having a bit of trouble remembering what she was supposed to be doing with this new information. "They're so cute," she whispered.

The long-haired human gave her a funny look. It didn't say anything, but Tay realized it must have better hearing than them. Despite its size, it had much larger ears.

She grinned at the human. "Well, what's your name, then?"

The human blinked. "I told you." It said another word that didn't go through the translator. It was the same word it had said before, but their technology had no way of making it more accommodating.

Tay nodded anyway. "Right. We don't have names like that. Is it okay if I call you... Happy? Yours is difficult to pronounce."

The human's face reddened. "Uh, okay."

Tay smiled. "And your friend, they need a name. How about Way?"

"Fine." The human—now dubbed Happy—didn't seem to care remotely as much about that.

Tay took note before adding, "And I don't suppose you could tell us your sexes?"

Happy visibly paled. "My what?"

Lenny jumped in. "Boy or girl, or other."

The human relaxed. "Oh. Right. Yeah, I'm a girl. He's a boy." She gestured at Way, then turned the question back on them. "What about you? I can't keep calling you 'it' in my head."

Tay found the information that the human was calling her _it_ striking. Trying not to show it, she told her.

"Cool." Happy clapped her hands together and grinned. "Could you tell me what's going on now?"

* * *

The Doctor jumped in front of Rose. It was the most stupid, dangerous thing she had ever seen him do, and she wasn't going to let him forget it. The bright blue laser burnt a hole through his outstretched hand and charred his left shoulder. He made a sound between a groan and a yelp, and he fell to the floor.

"DOCTOR!" Rose dropped down next to him. He grabbed his uninjured shoulder, but that caused him to wince, so she pulled away and sent a sharp, Tyler-patented glare at Joy. " _You didn't have to do that,"_ she shouted, her chest straining against her voice. "You must have a hospital or a first aide centre on board. Take us there, _now."_

Joy seemed surprised. Not a whole lot, but enough to hesitate. "Of course not! He... he won't be a problem to us now."

"Like hell he won't," Rose growled. She placed another hand on the Doctor's shoulder, ignored his pained grunt, and rolled him onto his back.

He hadn't been knocked unconscious, that much was certain; his face was twisted, eyes screwed up in agony. He held his hand tight to his chest, which was now covered in blood. He stammered something inaudible. Rose leaned in. She couldn't quite tell what he was saying, but she caught "TARDIS."

"Right then," Rose breathed. She stood up, grounded herself, and spoke firmly to the creatures before her. "You know Time Lords, yeah? Then you know what happens if the Doctor dies. He'll _explode_. You hear me? I was there last time it happened. It was huge. It'll damage your ship. _And_ it drew in predators. An energy release like that? You won't be hiding secret much longer."

Cury gazed up at the elder voy. "Mother—"

"Silence, Cury," Joy murmured. Her claws shook. She took a deep breath. "This was not what I intended," she breathed. Louder, she agreed, "All right. The Time Lord will be mended. Cury, get some help. We'll take him to be healed."

Cury nodded, all business now. "And the other one?"

"A cell." Joy looked amused for a moment. "It's only a human. The Time Lords have advanced technology. Perhaps he enhanced its intelligence somehow."

"Oi, 'it' is standing right here, alright? So don't try anything."

"You seem to forget that I am the one with the gun."

Rose swallowed. "Fair point."

Cury ran off down the corridor and called over a turn. Someone called back, and he soon returned with four other voy. Two appeared injured.

"What happened?" Rose asked, but no one answered.

"Take the Time Lord to sick bay with these two," Joy ordered. "Cury, go with them. We'll talk later. I'll escort the human to the nearest shepherd."

"Erm, Mum," Cury began. When she didn't immediately silence him, he went on, "I found them in an escape pod down corridor four twelve. They had a blue box."

Joy nodded. "I'll send someone up there. Move, now."

Cury hoisted the Doctor onto his back, and Joy began prodding Rose away.

" _Rose."_

Rose turned. The Doctor was trying his best to prop himself up on the voy's shoulder. Despite the pain, he smiled and choked out "Won't go far" before passing out entirely.

Joy scoffed and proceeded to lead Rose at gunpoint back the way they'd come. Rose didn't know what to do. She'd thought for a moment the Doctor had a plan, that he was going to give her some kind of clue, but "won't go far" didn't exactly inspire confidence. (It was a bit cute, though.)

 _Deep breaths._ She took a moment to allow her lungs to expand and contract. The Doctor wasn't dead; he was just very badly hurt. He would heal, but until that happened, Rose had to take charge of the situation.

Rose looked up at the enormous, angry alien before her. She hadn't noticed before just how sharp those fangs were. She had to build up a tub of courage before speaking. "You do have Alex, then, yeah? You said you'd trade with us for leavin' you alone."

Joy didn't even look at her.

Rose huffed. Her voice shook a little, but not enough (she hoped) to make her seem very frightened. "You know, humans aren't animals. The Doctor didn't do anything to make me smarter. I was born this way. Well, not born _this_ way, but you know what I mean."

Joy continued to ignore her.

"Where is Alex, anyway?" Rose asked as they moved along. "You said you'd put me in a cell. D'you wanna put me in with her?"

More silence.

"I'm worried," Rose stressed. "Where's the harm in giving her a cell mate?"

"The youngling you speak of was probably taken," Joy said tightly. "We were raided immediately after leaving the Earth. All but a few humans were lost."

"Raided?" Rose echoed. Her stomach turned. "By who?"

"By the other side," Joy said curtly. "If you must know, we're in the middle of a war. They've been trying to deplete our resources."

Rose grimaced. "Well, no offense, but it looks to me like they're a little more than tryin'." She watched pointedly as a pair of voy passed them, one almost carrying the other. "You said 'taken,' not killed. What do you think they'd have done with her? If they did take her?"

Joy sighed and put her hand out as a voy dressed in white came around a corner. "Put this human in a cell. Any cell."

The voy blinked rapidly in surprise. "Y-yes, ma'am. But might I ask—"

"No." With that, Joy Tirmy turned and scuttled away.

Once she was out of earshot, Rose grinned. "Right, I guess you're one of them 'shepherds.' What's that mean, then? Slaves are sheep?"

The voy's eyes widened. "I... You're—"

"Talking? Yeah, I do that." Rose tilted her head and gave him one of her I'm-too-cute-to-kill smiles. "I might have a lot to talk about, actually. I'm Rose, by the way. What's your name?"

* * *

The human they'd brought into sick bay didn't turn out to be as much of a disturbance as the doctors thought it would. Once the blood was cleaned away, the injuries were nowhere near as bad as they seemed. The bleeding stopped within minutes, which allowed them to put a cast on its hand and leave it be while they saw to their voy patients.

Not to mention an empty bed is a lot easier to deal with than an alien with no business being on the ship. Good riddance, they thought.

The Doctor rubbed at his wrist as he crept along the mostly empty corridors of level 6. He'd lost his coat, and someone had taken his tie. That, with all the blood still staining his front, should have made him appear ragged and vulnerable. As it happened, aside from the occasional wrist-rub or shoulder-roll, he moved as though in perfect health. Maybe he didn't realize how damaged he was.

He peaked around a corner, then swiftly ducked back, pressing into the wall behind him. A moment later, a pair of voy in red gowns passed. They didn't notice anything awry.

With them gone, the Doctor moved back the way they'd come and pressed his uninjured hand against a hardly visible pressure plate in the wall next to some doors. They slid open to reveal the inside of a lift, which he deftly entered.

Now cut off from any potential prying eyes, the Doctor began talking to himself. "This is so inconvenient," he muttered, gingerly inspecting his injured hand. "Bad idea. Bad Doctor. Should have pushed her out of the way. That would have given me time to yank my hand back, maybe just land the shot in my upper arm. This body isn't very good with hands, is it?" He sighed and went to rub his face with the bandaged hand before forcing himself to switch. "Okay. Right. Rose is unharmed. If Alex is on board, she'll find her." He paused. The wall next to the door was covered in touch-sensitive level numbers. "Four twelve," he murmured, and then tapped a button.

The Doctor managed to avoid detection as he slunk around the ship, picking up bits of information via conversation and other various inputs. It didn't take long for him to find where the TARDIS had landed, but it was gone by the time he got there.

"Blimey," he breathed. "They work fast. And efficient. You'd need some kind of anti-grav to move my TARDIS that quick. Who gave the voy all this technology?"

The Doctor groaned. His hand twitched awkwardly. He glanced around in search of information and, when nothing presented itself, ducked into the escape pod.

* * *

Alex had never been more relieved in her entire life. She was sure of it even without the majority of her memories, since the feeling she got when this catbug told her "We rescued you" was most certainly brand new.

The creature in question had a name that was hard to pronounce, so Alex was calling her Silly—a passive jab at the name Alex been given for the same linguistic reason.

"So you're not gonna put me in a zoo or anything?"

The catbug called Silly took half a moment to respond. "Of course not. Things are going to change now, but you would have had to be taken care of until we could send you back to Earth without too much hubbub. The—" She said a word that didn't translate. "—made a business out of stealing underdeveloped beings from underdeveloped planets. We have to be careful about sending them back, or we may alert the universe to our conflict, and that... Well... That would be bad."

The conversation had moved back out to a sitting room. It was very cozy with its carpet and yellow couches and that odd metallic smell. Alex sat next to Percy on the big yellow couch that stood against the wall, their human-sized legs dangling off like they were toddlers. Silly and the other one, dubbed Fred (because Alex liked the name Fred), sat across from them.

Something Alex noticed was that they had similar basic gestures to that of humans. They nodded and shrugged and smiled like humans. Alex couldn't help but wonder why they'd developed that. She thought of asking, but then she thought they probably didn't know, and then she thought that wasn't incredibly relevant right now.

"What about you?" Silly eventually asked. "Your culture. Your technology. What can you tell me?"

"Not much," Alex admitted. She scratched uncomfortably at the edge of the translation thing on her neck. She was hearing everything they said through some vibrations in the back of her neck, which was weird enough without the sudden change in tone. She wasn't sure what it was.

Fred tilted his head. "'Not much'? Is that all?"

"Yeah." Alex wasn't sure if she liked Fred. Maybe she should have chosen him a less flattering name. Timmy, maybe. Or Bob. "Yeah, it is. I don't know anything about human culture. I didn't grow up in it."

Percy failed to suppress a surprised gasp. When Alex looked over, he slapped his hands over his mouth and nose, eyes wide. In a tiny voice, he squeaked, "S'nothing."

"What do you mean?" Silly asked. The vibrations of this new tone sent a chill down Alex's spine.

She rubbed the back of her neck. "The... the Doctor. I live with him, on his TARDIS."

Fred frowned at Silly. "'TARDIS.' Does that sound familiar to you?"

Alex waited for him to elaborate. When he didn't, she got an idea and leaned forward. "It's a time machine. The Doctor's a Time Lord. Have you heard of them?"

Both creatures' pupils contracted at once, a fear expression so obvious that it left no room for doubt.

Alex sat back. "Oh."

"What?" Percy leaned toward her. "What's a Time Lord?"

"Did you say Time Lord?" Fred's voice sent a painful shock through Alex's head. "Time Lord. As in time, as in the progression of time, and lord, as in... lord? Time Lord?"

"Yeah..." Alex forced her right eye open. Her whole body was tense now. "That _hurt_. What was that?"

The aliens blinked rapidly. Silly opened her mouth, and Alex tensed further, but the vibrations this time were gentle. "We probably need to lower our voices. Sorry. But can I... Can I confirm something?"

Alex nodded.

"You say you live with a Time Lord. In a time machine."

Alex straightened. She had no idea what a Time Lord was, but they were making them sound like a big deal. "Yes."

"You're sure."

"...Yes?" Why would the Doctor lie? He'd been so casual in mentioning his species before. Alex narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

Silly (maybe not the most appropriate name) curled her taloned hands into fists. Fred looked at the wall like it held the answer to Alex's question.

Percy poked her in the arm. "What's a Time Lord?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

He frowned. "But you said you lived with one."

"I do."

"But—"

Fred stood up. "Nope," he said, and the collar bit into her nervous system. "I'm out. I don't want anything to do with this. Tay—" He said Silly's real name in a rough, strained voice that translated into another, more painful shock. Alex yelped and slapped her hand on the back of the collar. "You need to send this one back right now."

"But—"

"We can't get a Time Lord involved, Tay. If any of them are still around, you know they won't take kindly to losing something—someone," he corrected himself. "Especially not a _child."_

Alex grabbed at the front of the collar, trying to find the clip or tie or button but there wasn't any and he just kept shouting—

Silly rushed over to take the collar off. Alex jumped as the tiny little needles pulled out of her skin, and then the pain was gone. She bent over, wrapping both hands around the back of her neck, closed her eyes and grimaced. Silly said something that might have been apologetic. Fred spoke in that continuous harsh tone, and Silly snapped at him—literally. She made a sound in her throat that sounded like a snap. They began to converse more quietly.

So much for communication. "Ow."

"Are you okay?" Percy sounded alarmed. Alex looked at him and confirmed with her eyes that he was, indeed, alarmed.

"Yeah," she drawled. She cleared her throat and sat up. "Yeah, just a bit dizzy. Good thing you didn't get one, huh?"

Percy's eyes were wide with fear. It hit Alex that he really was just a kid, probably no older than ten or eleven, and this wasn't exactly a magical first experience with outer space. That wasn't to say she didn't still have a knot in the pit of her stomach, but she was definitely handling it better than him. The aliens were busy, so Alex decided to try and get him up to speed. "We're gonna be okay," she told him. "That other ship was kidnapping kids, but these guys are nice. And I think they're gonna take us back soon."

Percy knit his brow. "What about 'Time Lords'?"

"That," Alex exclaimed suddenly with a jab at the air between them, "is something I'd like to know more about. They _freaked_. I just know that's what the Doctor said he is."

"Who's the Doctor?"

The question caught Alex somewhere between off-guard and on-edge. She slapped her hands down on her thighs. "I don't know! I don't know anything! I don't know anyone! I hardly even know who I am, let alone what a _human_ is let alone what a _Time Lord_ is let alone why—" She paused to inhale. "...they're such a big deal. I don't have a reference for these things. But I do know," she added, turning back to Percy, "that Rose and the Doctor are prob'ly gonna try to find us, and they're prob'ly gonna find out about the whole slave trade thing, and they're prob'ly gonna do something to stop it and save us."

Eyes wide, Percy nodded. "O-okay. Good. We're going home?"

"We're going home," Alex said. She noticed that Silly and Fred had stopped talking and were watching her now. She sat up straight. "What?"

Silly said something to Fred, and he made a distinct expression that Alex couldn't read. In a moment, Silly had crossed the space between them and the humans; she gestured.

Alex gulped. "You want us to follow?"

Silly gestured again. Alex didn't want to put that collar back on, so she decided to obey. Percy stood to follow after, but Fred stepped in front of him. Alex turned. Silly put an insisting hand on her shoulder. The hand was warm, warmer than any human hand should be. It made Alex shiver.

She looked up, incredulous. "What are you doing?"

The alien's next words sounded urgent, but she was clearly trying to keep her voice down. She nudged her forward.

"Alex?" Percy tried to step around the other creature, but he put a taloned hand on his shoulder as well. Percy yelped.

Alex pulled away. "You can't separate us!"

Fred spoke urgently to Silly, who proceeded to shove Alex out of the room. It was disturbingly easy. Before she knew what was happening—aside from a few reflexive "whoa!"s and "hey!"s—Alex was back in the hallway.

The relief she'd felt earlier left her. Now she wasn't sure whether she felt scared or annoyed or furious. She couldn't do anything to stop Silly from making her jog down the corridor, heart beating asymmetrically in her chest. "Why are you doing this?" she tried. "Why can't Percy come with us? You don't know he doesn't know the Doctor too!"

Silly didn't answer. Not that she could have, since she didn't understand, but it would have at least been polite to _try._

They eventually reached a corridor on a much higher level. The wall to their right held rows and rows of egg-shaped things sticking out like the pod that had taken her here. A few indented gaps showed where pods had yet to return.

They passed one of these empty spaces, and Alex froze. The indent in the wall between two eggs was a window, an oddly shimmering thing that let them see beyond the hull of the ship. The ship itself was built like an hourglass from this angle, with space below the window and then more ship below that. The ship wasn't reflective, but a flicker of light bounced off the silvery surface that originated from a nearby star or sun. In the opposite direction, a series of red and yellow lights swirled together, and pinpricks of blue marked direction in the dark.

"You've never seen space before?" Silly asked.

"No, I have," Alex murmured. _Just not from this angle,_ she thought. Space from the surface of that charcoal planet had been gorgeous, but it had been salted with flames and sparks and its own sun. This was... was...

It was...

Wait.

Alex whirled on the alien, whose eyes had widened in shock. She opened her mouth, but no words came to mind.

"You spoke," Silly squeaked. Her voice didn't sound like a buzz of information now. She seemed to be speaking English. Her mouth moved to fit the words, and even her expressions were more easily readable. "You spoke voy."

"No I didn't." Alex turned back to the window. A ball of excitement began growing in the back of her throat. "It's gotta be the TARDIS."

"The what?"

Alex searched the area for the blue box, something fading into existence, that sound of her landing, but there was nothing. Still, maybe they'd landed elsewhere on board. How else would she suddenly be able to understand... "What's your name again?"

The catbug formerly known as Silly blinked in bewilderment. "Tay, but—" She stopped and stared at something outside.

Alex turned to look. She saw nothing at first, but then a small movement caught her eye. It was a round thing zipping toward them. It looked like the pods in the walls, only darker.

Tay hissed inward. "That's a Tirmy vessel—I have to—we can't—come with me!" She grabbed Alex's forearm and started dragging her back the way they had come. Beyond the door at the far end of the room, a single catbug in red dress was moving in their direction. Tay shouted, "The Tirmus are sending pods to the ship! Get someone to hold them back—go _now."_

"Wha—but we're not ready for the jump!"

"I'm going to deal with that. Do as you're told."

"Yes, ma'am."

The red-shirt rushed off, and Tay ushered Alex back to the lift that had brought them to this level. There was a sound behind them: a thud, and then footsteps.

The lift closed, and they began their descent.

Alex rubbed her arm where Tay's talons had pressed into it. "I'm getting a bit tired of lifts," she decided.

Tay gulped. "How are you doing that?"

"What?"

" _Talking."_

"The TARDIS, I think. It's the Doctor's ship. I told you before. She translates stuff when she's near. Psychic translation circuits or something."

"So the Time Lord has come for you."

"I hope so." Alex squinted up at her. "You sound scared."

Tay closed her eyes. Without opening them, she said, "I don't know what your experience is, but to me, growing up, the Time Lords were one of the most monstrous monsters hiding in my closet."

Alex stared. "That's... That's a metaphor, right?"

Tay took a moment to respond. "I guess humans wouldn't... Yes, it's metaphorical. It was our history, but it's told sometimes like nightmarish bedtime stories. The Time Lords fought a war with this other race, and our people got involved, and... You're a kid, right?"

"Yeah, I think. What does that have to do with it?"

"Nothing. I was just saying—our people got involved, and... a lot of them were... hurt."

Alex was sure Tay had just sugarcoated the story to make it more kid-friendly. As the doors opened to another green corridor, she let out an angry sigh. "I know what death is, you know. And torture, if that has anything to do with it."

They stepped out. Alex wanted to ask where they were going, but she was more interested in hearing about the Time Lords. "What did they do to them?"

Tay moved swiftly down the corridor, forcing Alex to jog in order to keep up. She wasn't even holding her anymore; she simply trusted her not to run off. The situation must have been serious.

"They killed them," she said finally, and the conversation was over.

Well, that was vaguely concerning. Alex slowed to a walk, allowing the—did she say voy? Catbug was better. Alex allowed the voy to overtake her completely while she turned this information over in her head. The Time Lords—the Doctor's species, or people, or whatever—were so scary and powerful that they were a nightmare to an entire species. They had gotten into awar at some point, and they had caused the deaths of... what? The majority of all voy? It sounded like it. Or had they destroyed their planet? The idea was chilling.

 _'Everything has its time and everything dies.'_

Alex stopped walking. She remembered that voice, the one from the past she had heard in the future. She'd never told her companions about how the Lady Cassandra had affected her mind—how, for a moment, the woman's memories had slipped into hers. She'd never told them about the memory, or how those words sometimes kept her from speaking.

 _'Everything dies.'_

She wondered if the Time Lords had justified genocide like that.

Tay disappeared through a dissolving door some ways down the corridor. Alex caught up and found it closed, so she pressed her hand against the surface. It dissolved away. The room on the other side looked like some kind of control room. There were tables with buttons and switches, screens and metal surfaces, and a dozen or more catbug-voy at the various controls set up around the room.

Instinctively, Alex stepped out of sight, but no one was looking in her direction.

"We need to jump," Tay announced with authority. Most of the voy turned to watch as she reached someone at the back and placed a hand on the silver console in front of them. "The Tirmus are retaliating."

" _What?"_

"I just saw one of their pods headed our way. There's bound to be more. We need to jump as soon as possible."

"But we're still six minutes to full power!"

" _Then make it three!"_ Tay's voice was hardened. Alex had an indistinct thought about first impressions. "We can't have conflict on board right now—we _can't."_

"Right now? What are you talking about?"

Tay hissed, "We might have a Time Lord on this ship. This—" She stopped and searched the area and until her eyes landed on Alex. She waved her over. "Happy, come here."

Alex didn't move.

Tay sighed and turned back to the wide-eyed voy at the controls. She began speaking quiet, urgent words that Alex had to strain her ears to make out.

Then another voice, much nearer to her, said, "'Happy'?"

Alex spun around so fast, it took a moment for her vision to catch up. "Doctor!"

The Doctor was covered in blood. His coat was missing, his suit was torn, and it looked as though something—or someone—had exploded into a splattery red-orange mess right in front of him. Alex's blood ran cold at the sight of it. She remembered that feeling again of gazing up at him in someone else's horror.

He grinned. "Hullo, Alex. Looks like you've been getting on well. _'Happy'?"_ Alex tried to think of a response, but she was too tense to do much more than move her mouth soundlessly. The Doctor's expression melted into bewilderment. "Are you alright?"

Unbidden, the words "Whose blood—" began to slip from her mouth, but she was saved by a shout from inside the control room. Two or three catbugs had stood and were now pointing guns at the Doctor. (Why every voy had a gun was beyond Alex.) The rest appealed to the authority of panicked questions.

"How did an adult human get in here?"

"Is that the Time Lord?"

"It can't be—"

"What's happening?"

The Doctor exhumed the aura of someone too exasperated to be irritated. He directed this energy first at Alex—"You _told_ them about me?"—then at the room— "All right, yes, guns, lovely. Why don't we just calm down for a second and introduce ourselves?" He started into the room with such ease that Alex imagined the only reason he didn't get shot was the fear that a higher authority might get ticked off about it. "I'm the Doctor," he announced briskly. "I just escaped from your enemy's ship in one of their pods, and I think you—" He nodded at Tay. "—were in the window as I approached. You mistook me for an enemy fighter and sent in a small battalion who're no doubt very confused about not finding any Tirmus in the hangar." He paused to let this sink in. Then, "You are not in _any_ danger. _"_

The Doctor stopped moving when a fourth voy raised their gun. Alex stood some ways behind him, but from the way he turned his head, she knew the Doctor was glaring at them. "Shooting me won't do you any good," he growled. In a lighter, mocking tone, he added, "Haven't you heard the bedtime stories?"

Every catbug lowered their weapon. The one Tay had been speaking to visibly swallowed.

"You couldn't have heard that," Tay accused.

"Heard what?" the Doctor asked innocently. He stuffed both hands in his pockets, flinched, and removed the left one. Alex only now noticed that his arm was bandaged, the hand especially. "I had a little talk with some high ranking officers on the other ship. They weren't very nice to me. Thought I'd come over here and see what the other side of the war is like. I have to say," he added, leaning over a table near the center of the room. Screens and holograms flickered with images Alex didn't understand. "The difference between your technology and theirs is staggering. You can't have been at war _that_ long." He looked up. "Who's in charge here?"

Silence.

Then,

"I'm the captain," said the (male-voiced?) voy in the swivel chair. "But the highest class in the room would be..." He pointed at Tay.

The Doctor glanced between them before deciding that Tay did _seem_ like the most in-charge person in the room. He made the mistake of stuffing his injured hand in his pocket for symmetry, and Alex was sure she saw him wince again, but that didn't affect his mood. "Lovely. What's your name?"

"T-Tay." She cleared her throat. "Tay Tirmoy."

"Tirm- _oy."_ The Doctor sounded absolutely thrilled. He turned to Alex, pointing back at Tay with his uninjured hand. "I _love_ the voy. Every name ends in a Y, no matter what language you're speaking. The other guys call themselves Tirm- _y,_ which I imagine was the original name. Civil wars always crop up when someone wants to make a moral change in society. Did you pick 'oy' so you could say you were more legitimately _voy_ than them, or am I overthinking it?"

"Please." Tay cut in. Her voice was strained, and it got quieter as she spoke. "Don't... don't get involved. Just take your human and go."

"My human? Oh, Alex, right. Well, thing is..." The Doctor walked around the table and began to move closer to Tay. "She's not the only human that got kidnapped, is she? And there are others— _so many_ others. I can't just leave. But I'm on your side! _"_ He made this final announcement and backed into a more visible part of the room, arms out in an offering gesture.

The tension in the air throughout this display was palpable. Alex could only imagine what it was like to stand in the middle of it. Every Tirmoy looked to either Tay or the captain, waiting for someone to _get rid of this Time Lord._ Neither one seemed very confident.

Then something occurred to her, and she thought to herself, _don't,_ before blurting out, "Doctor."

He turned.

Alex gripped the door frame. "You're covered in blood."

The Doctor looked down at himself. "Oh... _Oh_." He turned in a circle, scanning the room's wide-eyed occupants, and smiled awkwardly. "Now, I get how this looks, but this isn't... I got shot." He waggled a pointing finger between left shoulder and hand. "It's not terrible, but there was an awful lot of blood, so I guess it looks... bad. I didn't kill anyone, if that's what you're thinking, and I don't plan on it." Alex thought the energy in the room was pretty skeptical about that. Probably sensing the same thing, the Doctor softened his voice, like he was speaking to a child. "I want to help you."

The captain gave Tay a desperate sort of look. She grimaced. "There isn't anything I can do to stop you, is there?"

"Nope," the Doctor replied, definitively popping his P. "Oh, and maybe take a rain check on that jump. My friend's still on the Tirmus ship, and so's _my_ ship, and I would really hate to go beyond reach of them. In fact, if we could arrange some sort of diplomatic meet-up? That would be great. Do you have any way to communicate with the Tirmus?"

As the Time Lord took control of the room, Alex kept to the open doorway and watched him waltz around the room providing pleasantly given orders. He made sure the crew would keep within range of the enemy ship, said a lot of jargon Alex didn't understand, then discussed his plans with Tay—loudly, so that everyone in the room could hear.

"I-I've made contact," stammered one voy, and the Doctor leaped over to have a look.

There was a hologram screen where there hadn't been a moment ago. It showed the bemused face of another voy, behind which could be seen three other faces, all watching the screen with interest. The voy on the Doctor's end leaned out of the way so he could place himself front and center.

"Hi there," he greeted cheerily. "This is—does this ship have a name?" He glanced around, but no one answered, so he turned back and said, "This is the Tirmoy ship that recently boarded your slave vessel. My name is the Doctor. Can I speak to Joy Tirmy? I believe she's somewhat in charge over there, and we've already spoken a bit. I'd like a word with her."

The face turned to the other faces. They shook their heads or shrugged their shoulders. It turned back. "This call is highly unusual, and you are not voy. State your race and purpose."

The Doctor turned to roll his eyes at Alex. She gave a weak smile in response, but he'd turned away already. "I'm the Time Lord who snuck on and off your ship not too long ago. I _intend_ to have a chat with your superior. Oh, and ask for Rose Tyler too while you're at it."

The face's eyes widened. It turned to something off-screen. "Youy, contact sickbay level six. Ask if they still have that human patient."

There were a few seconds pause. The Doctor tapped impatiently on the console. He looked about ready to speak up when another voice called, "No, sir. They lost him twenty minutes ago."

The Doctor raised a hand in greeting. "Hello."

The voy on the other side of the call looked up at him briefly, then addressed someone else. "Get the matriarch on the line."

" _Matriarch."_ The Doctor whistled, impressed. He turned to the voy in the room. "Do you lot have your own matriarch, or are you a democracy? Oh, never mind. I know you won't answer. Alex, are you just going to stand there and let the draft in?"

Alex started. "N-no, sorry." She stepped awkwardly into the room. The door re-materialized behind her. The Doctor continued to stare at her, which would have been bad enough without all the alien eyes following his gaze. Her face and shoulders grew hot; she may have begun to squirm.

He gestured for her to approach with a jerk of his head.

Heart pounding, Alex joined him by the hologram call.

He studied her. "Has something happened to you?" he asked softly. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No, they—n-nothing's happened."

The Doctor frowned. "I'm sorry?"

"Nothing's happened to me." Alex tried for a nonchalant shrug. "I'm fine."

For a moment, she was terrified the Doctor would be angry, but he just exhaled dispassionately and turned away. The hologram flickered.

"It's the Time Lord, ma'am," said the voy on-screen. She (yes, Alex was sure it was a she) was looking down at something, possibly another screen. A moment of silence, then she winced and grabbed at her ear. "Ah, y-yes. I don't know. I don't know. He says he snuck out and wants to talk to you. Yes. Yes." She glanced back up at the Doctor, and the hologram flickered again, and the image changed entirely.

The hologram now showed them a new alien face. Alex was starting to get the hang of telling them apart: This one seemed larger, eyes darker, fur slightly shorter. It—or she, Alex guessed—hissed through her teeth. "How the fuck—"

"Oi! Watch the language, your majesty. There are children present." The Doctor put a firm hand on Alex's shoulder, and they both winced. Amazingly, whatever pain it caused him didn't affect his patronizing tone. "D'you want to start again?"

The voy forced down her frustration. "What is it that you want?"

"I _want_ you to stop stealing children. And I want my TARDIS back, and I want Rose Tyler, safe and sound, _for a start."_ He said all this with a casual intensity that made Alex pull away. "I'll be heading back over there in a minute, and I expect to be met with a committee prepared to discuss peace terms."

"You can't do that," Joy hissed.

"What are you doing with those children?" he bit back. Every word was filled with vicious accusation. "Where did you get that technology? The voy were always cunning, but they were never adept at dimensional-spacial manipulation. You'd barely even developed a primitive form of teleportation last I heard—a _fatal_ one—but you implemented a highly developed mass teleport on the Earth today combined, _ingeniously_ , with multiple dimensional shifts." He leaned in so his nose was just a few inches from the holoscreen. "We're going to discuss this, and you're going to stop stealing children, and maybe... just maybe, the authorities won't have to get involved. Now, where's Rose?"

Joy didn't respond to that. Instead, she leaned in as well. "What makes you so confident that you didn't just set yourself up for a trap? You cannot make us obey you. You're just one man."

"I'm the reason any of your species is still alive, which makes _this_ war _my_ responsibility. I'm coming. Be ready." With that final word, the Doctor pressed his hand over a light on the controls, and the hologram flickered out.

He turned to assess the room. Every voy was a horrified mess, and Alex had slid a few feet away from him. When his eyes landed on her, she tried to hide her anxiety by standing tall and meeting his gaze. He gave her a half-nod, caught Tay's eyes, and swept out of the room with an authoritative, "Come on."

The moment the door dissolved behind them, he turned to Tay. "Take me to the others."

They had already discussed this. Tay, as marked by her purple garb, was in a higher "class" than everyone else in the control room. Alex had figured as much just from her attitude, but hearing it referred to as a _class_ difference gave it a little more weight. The Doctor wanted to speak with those in charge, those who could legitimately deal with negotiation.

Tay led them back to the same room Alex and Percy had met her outside of earlier. (How long had it been? An hour? Thirty minutes? Two hours?) On the way, Alex noticed with more than a little admiration that the Doctor didn't seem very bothered by his injuries. She guessed that they weren't as bad as they looked, but _wow_ that was a lot of blood. She tried not to walk directly behind him for fear of catching a whiff.

The room looked to be some kind of official, business-conducting... room. Alex didn't have the vocabulary she needed. It looked like a meeting room, with a long meeting-like table in the center and a collection of purple and black-shirted voy sitting in very large chairs shaped specifically to their odd legs. When the door opened, most of them looked up expectantly. Conversation died down.

The Doctor leaned in. "Who's up for a little trip?"

After yet more Doctor-ing, or whatever Alex eventually would deem to call whatever it was he was doing, it was decided that he would fly back to the Tirmy ship, get the TARDIS, and bring a whole bunch of high-class voy together to speak over ending the war. He would be a moderator in the discussion, which came across as a heavily implied threat.

Throughout the discussion, everyone exchanged doubtful looks. Alex wasn't sure how wars normally ended, but she had the feeling the Doctor wasn't planning on a normal resolution.

And another thing. "What about Percy?"

From the way the Doctor looked at her, Alex was sure he could tell how much courage it had taken her to speak. She swallowed. "The kid who got kidnapped with me. Th-they have him somewhere."

"Oh." Tay cleared her throat. "He'll be fine. We can... We _will_ return every creature to their home planet as soon as possible." She looked to the Doctor for approval.

He nodded. "Yes, good. Don't worry about him, Alex. The Tirmos seem very lovely. Speaking of, you'll have to hang back while I go find Rose and speak with the Tirmus. They aren't nearly as civilized with strangers." To demonstrate, he raised his left hand. The thick bandages (or was that a cast?) were stained dark orange.

Alex's heart fluttered with anxiety. He couldn't just leave her! She wanted to say something, bite back, insist he let her come with him—but all she managed was a wordless squeak that could have been interpreted as _"okay."_

The Doctor did so, asked Tay to keep her comfortable while he was gone, and left.

* * *

"It must be a trick."

"It's not a trick," Rose repeated patiently. "And even if it was, who's tricking you? Humans? Doesn't that disprove everything anyway?"

The voy she'd been handed off to—Katty—blinked rapidly. He'd obeyed orders up to a point, led her to a lift, taken her up to a storage floor. The corridors up here were a mess: Voy ran to and fro pushing small creatures ahead or carrying them in arms. Many voy were wounded; some shouted to each other. Rose saw one voy hauling a human child over their shoulder, blood matted in her hair, and she had to swallow a rising panic before realizing the kid looked nothing like Alex.

 _Breathe, Rose. It's just a war._ She laughed to herself. _Just a war? Christ, that sounds ridiculous. But I've been in danger like this before. We'll figure it out._

"Come on," Rose pushed. She was now standing just inside a cell room. The door hadn't been closed yet, and Katty was too indecisive to put her in one of the cages. "You know I'm right."

Katty swallowed. "L-level five planets... The Earth must be miscategorized. An accident by galactic law, not us. We don't traffic intelligent lifeforms."

"Then what d'you call Barnaby's?" Rose snipped. "That trap _depends_ on us being intelligent!"

Katty frowned. "'Barnaby's'?"

That gave Rose pause. "You don't know... How d'you think those kids were captured? Who was involved?"

The voy blinked some more. "They... they were teleported to the ship. Our sensors detected younglings of a certain age group, and—why am I explaining this to you?" He tightened his grip on the weapon in hand. It was some kind of metal rod with a rubber grip. Rose guessed it was their version of a cattle prod, and she wasn't too keen on getting friendly with it.

She raised her hands in cautious surrender. "Hold on now. You don't have to do this."

Katty moved to the wall, sure to keep the weapon pointed at Rose, and opened a small control panel there. "You won't be harmed," he promised, pressing a button inside. One of the cages at the back of the room swung open. "The higher ups will deal with this whole mess. Now get inside."

"No."

"I'm sorry?"

Rose swallowed nervously. "I... I said no. Look, you're better than this. This war? It's terrible! You can't be enjoyin' it." She yelped as Katty jabbed the prod in her direction, forcing her to back away toward the cell. "And I have a friend—he's called the Doctor—he can help. He's _going_ to help, but I need to get to his TARDIS."

The voy pushed the cage door shut with an electric buzz. Feigning apathy, he asked, "What's a TARDIS?"

Rose leaned into the bars. "It's how we got here. I can show you... if you let me out. The whole universe in a box. I bet the Doctor—he's a Time Lord—I bet he'd be willing to offer a trip if you help us."

"Time Lord?" Katty looked aghast. "Now I know you're lying. There are none left."

"Joy didn't seem to think so."

The alien paused by the door. It looked for a moment like he was going to turn and address her, but he just shook his head. "That bloody government, getting planets mixed up... The Tirmos will be having a field day."

And he left.

The Doctor came approximately four hours later.

"It's only been forty-three minutes," he protested when Rose pointed it out. "Did you hit your head? Get your internal clock knocked sideways?"

He was with an armed guard of Tirmus, all in blue. They unlocked her cage and began leading them away, down to where the Doctor promised they would "get things sorted."

"What's with the Star Trek uniforms?" Rose asked, eyeing the guards. "Do red ones get put on the front lines or something?"

"They're markers of class," the Doctor replied, voice low. The voy glanced down at them, but they didn't seem interested in interrupting the conversation. "The red ones are like diplomats, managers. They keep the system running. Blue are soldiers, purple are strategists. Then there's grey and white. They're the lowest classes. They'd be sent to do the boring or dangerous work."

Rose nodded keenly. "What about the black ones?"

"Royalty."

Her eyebrows shot up on her forehead. "You serious?"

"Oh, yeah." The Doctor grinned down at her. "We just happened to run into the Tirmy prince. Or _a_ Tirmy prince. I'm not actually sure. By the way, I met Alex on the other ship."

"Other ship?" Rose frowned at him. "You left without me?"

"Well, I had to see what all the hubbub was about. They're not far. I even managed to extend the effects of the TARDIS translation circuits."

"How was she?"

"The TARDIS?"

"Alex!"

"Ah." He nodded. "She was fine. In fact, _nothing_ happened to her."

Rose hesitated. "Sorry?"

"Nothing," he emphasized, " _happened._ That's what she said when I asked."

"Hm." Rose contemplated that for a moment, then asked, "What about Rachel's kid? Percy?"

"Oh, he's fine. The Tirmoy are real nice, got him all safe and sound. We'll make sure they send everyone home when this is all over."

"And what's your plan to fix that?"

The Doctor inhaled for this one, like he was preparing to give a whole speech about it. "Diplomacy," he said, and that was it.

 _Diplomacy,_ Rose thought. _When have I ever known him to rely on diplomacy?_ There'd been the Nestene Consciousness, but he'd had a backup then. They hadn't left the Slitheen on good terms, and the daleks were all dead. What exactly did the Doctor _mean_ by diplomacy?

They made it back down to the set of levels they'd been separated on, and finally, _finally,_ she got to see some part of the ship other than corridor and broom closet.

This particular room was a posh space, emphasis on the _space._ The floor was see-through! If she hadn't known any better, Rose would almost have said it was made of glass, but that couldn't be... could it? That would have been dangerous. Either way, the room itself catered to the theme: The ceiling was tall and painted black with tiny blue dots, the walls shimmered orange and red, and the furniture was all various shades of black and purple. It looked to Rose like an enthusiastic space exhibit back on Earth, only it was set up like a family room, with couches and chairs and coffee tables and the odd half-empty plate full of what must have been half-eaten food. (Although, within minutes of their entering, a white-gowned voy passed through and made the mess disappear.)

Near the back of the room, beyond the cozy sitting space, a familiar face occupied a large, deep brown desk covered in various sci-fi instruments. Beside that stood a familiar blue box.

"There she is!" the Doctor gushed at the sight of his ship. "All up and ready for the trip. I was afraid you'd make be beg for a minute there."

Joy kept eerily still as the two approached to her desk. She looked to Rose like an angry boss. Her eyes swept over the Doctor's form, and her frown deepened.

The Doctor swayed back and forth, uninjured hand in his pocket. "Well?"

"'Well' what?"

"Aren't you going to make demands?" The Doctor shifted his stance to appear more at-ease. "You'll want to avoid any legal repercussions, and I imagine there's something about wanting my TARDIS. I've heard it all before. You're not trying to kill me, so you must have a plan to get everything up Joy."

Joy smiled, though Rose thought it looked more like she was baring her fangs at them. "You offer peace," the alien purred. "My family is dying to the enemy's violent demands. I will make mine in their presence."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "That doesn't sound like you."

Joy laughed lightly. "You say that like you know me. No, I am not happy with this, but I know my history. There is no bargaining with a Time Lord."

"Mm-hmm," the Doctor hummed doubtfully. "Alright then. Come on, Rose, let's go pick up our delegates. That is what you're agreeing to, yeah? A meet-up on your ship?"

"This very room," Joy agreed, nodding around at the comfy seating. For a moment, the compliant disposition dropped, and she glared at him. "I don't have much of a choice, do I? Here or there, my turf or my enemy's, and you really do have all the control, don't you?"

"If you like." The Doctor started toward the TARDIS. Rose followed. He paused by the door. "No tricks, or you won't make it back to base, children or no children."

"Of course," Joy grumbled.

The Doctor smiled and nodded, then entered the police box. Rose made sure to shut the door behind them. "You really arranged a diplomatic meeting?"

"Oh yeah," the Doctor said cheekily. He finished fiddling with some switches and dials and pulled a starter-lever. Rose ran up to the console so she could find a good grip in case of turbulence. "Wasn't that hard. The voy are massive storytellers, but they don't like fiction, so every exaggerated tale of the past is generally believed. Alex had already riled them up about the big scary Time Lord coming to save her. All I had to do was _'rrrr.'"_ He made a growly noise and clawed at the air.

Rose laughed. The Doctor didn't. He frowned at something on the console screen. Rose leapt over to get a look. "What is it? What's wrong?" The screen wasn't doing its incomprehensible calculations thing, but what it did show wasn't much clearer. "Why're we lookin' at space?"

The Doctor reached across Rose's front to twist something on the upper part of the console. The screen flickered, and the dots and swirls out in space moved as the TARDIS panned around. He tapped the screen, flicked a switch, and—when the various images showed nothing but space and stars—hissed through his teeth. "That's not good," he graveled.

Rose leaned against him to put herself in front of the screen. "What's not? Doctor, what happened?"

The Doctor stared at the screen, scanning it for something, _anything._

Nothing.

"They're gone," he breathed. "All gone—all at once. The Tirmoy, the Tirmus... just gone... while we were in the vortex."

"What—what do you mean 'gone'?" Rose smiled nervously, half-hoping he was wrong, that they were about to have a good little laugh about this mistake. "They can't be ' _just gone.'_ Where have they gone?"

"I don't know."

She shook her head in confusion. "But... they _can't_ be. Have you tried... Can we find them like before? The dimensional shift or whatever?"

"That's not what this is, or the scale is too massive. Whatever happened, either it's untraceable or I don't have the means to trace it." The Doctor exhaled slowly. "We just lost an entire species. And hundreds of—no, _thousands_ of children, oh..." He dragged his uninjured hand down his face.

"Oh, no," Rose breathed. She leaned over the console, felt the weight of the situation on her back. "What are we gonna do?" She waited for an answer. After a moment, the Doctor began moving around the controls. Rose looked up. "What are you doing?"

He skirted around the console and typed something into a number pad. "Checking."

"Checking what?"

The TARDIS was set into flight. The Doctor pulled out the mallet from earlier. "We're going to take a look at the moment we were gone." He banged on a control, and Rose flinched with sympathy for the machine. "Not close enough to cross over our own timelines, just enough to get a glimpse, see what happened."

"Right."

"We'll find them, Rose."

"Of course."

"Don't worry."

"I'm not!" The Doctor paused to look at her. She met his eyes for maximum intensity. "I trust you."

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _Whoa. Cliffhangers, right? Don't worry, part two is pre-written. Expect it December 4th, sometime around noon if I don't get impatient or forget (update: I got impatient)._

 _Time for those unrelated things I mentioned up top. Here's the gist: **I want you to participate in a project I'm starting on Tumblr.** Simply put, I made this side blog _specifically _for boosting the writing of those who lack much of an audience. There's a whole bunch of writeblrs out there who put their heart and soul into short stories and poetry and never get any more than a few measly notes. (I don't go looking for fanfiction, but it's not unwelcome.) And well, what's the point of me if I don't have some positive effect on people who share my one skill as passions?_

 _Anyway, we're small so far, very small, but I'm starting to implement Saturday themes, and there's a plan to start monthly competitions whenever the following is large enough (with monetary prizes, if all goes well). It's gonna be great. Check us out theopenmindpalace on Tumblr (link in my bio) and help us grow as a community._


	6. Our Future Pt 2

_Possible CW: Death and mild body horror._

* * *

The quiet was staggering. Lights still on, ship still humming, the doors unlocked themselves. Tiny bodies crept out of their rooms, shivering and crying and clinging to each other. A few, though not a majority, were deathly calm. Some were in shock. Many stayed on the floor, fearful of the enormous beasts that might enter if they were to move.

Alex saw them drop. The aliens had brought her back to that room with the purple walls and the long table, where she'd waited in the corner for the Doctor to return (hopefully with Rose). An eternity had passed, and then—

She stepped over the bodies, not daring to check for a pulse or a breath. She didn't even know if they'd _had_ a pulse. The first hallway was empty, but the next contained two forms on the ground, slumped at awkward angles like rag dolls. She approached, but she didn't touch them. The quiet hum of the engine was deafening against the silence.

Alex returned to the room, but no one had moved. She didn't want to go back in, so she turned and went in the other direction. It didn't take her long to realize that every door was opened, every doorway clear. Even the lifts stood ready for passengers, which made her anxious to use them. Instead, she found stairs, and she climbed them.

More bodies.

She wasn't sure when she'd started running, but now she was panting as though she'd run for miles. She looked behind her, wondering if something was chasing her, but there was nothing. The silence was absolute now; the hum of the engine had ceased. She wasn't sure if it was the distance or if it had truly turned off. If it had, how? Was it automatic? Was someone alive in the control room?

Maybe, at the very least, she could find that kid who'd been taken with her. What was his name? Percy. Maybe he was alive. This was what drove her to run all the way back to that living space she'd last seen him in. Remembering where it was from the meeting room was easy. Even going by stairs, it didn't take long to find that open doorway in the corridor of open doorways. She couldn't help but peak in a few, notice that each one was set up in a similar manner: as a personal living space. Some had a bed, a few had a kitchen like the one before. Most had comfortable looking couches or chairs with some odd shapes meant to accommodate the aliens' weird legs. In a few, she saw awkward lumps of fur and flesh and cloth lying on the floor.

The room in question was empty. Alex searched the kitchen area, went into the bedroom, found what looked like it might have been a bathroom. She called, "PERCY?" but the place was empty. That other voy, whatever his real name was, must have taken him elsewhere.

 _Before they died._

She shook her head. _No._ She wouldn't think like that. _She_ was alive, so she couldn't be the _only_ one alive.

 _Have to get out of here._

Alex blinked. Yeah, she had to get out of there. The engines had stopped. Had they landed somewhere? Some instinct said _yes,_ so she started back the way she'd come.

She'd just turned the first corner when a movement caught her eye. She whirled, heart pounding, to find two _alive people._ They were both aliens, but not the same kind as the ones whose bodies she'd been finding all over the place. These ones were green, and their skin was spotted with tiny bumps. Otherwise, they looked humanoid, small enough to be children. They both wore plain grey outfits: a t-shirt and pair of pants that were so basic Alex thought the voy had probably provided them. They'd been moving towards her, but they froze when she turned on them, eyes wide with fear.

"Hey," she called, trying not to sound as relieved as she was to find someone alive. When they didn't respond, she added, "I'm Alex. What are—I mean, who are you?"

The ever-so-slightly-taller one blinked. He took the other's hand and said something... alien. It sounded more human than the voy's language, so Alex was fairly sure it had said something defensive and then asked a question. Otherwise...

"I don't understand you. That must mean the TARDIS is out of range." She groaned.

"!" The taller green thing hissed something and stood in front of the smaller one.

Alex raised her hands in a show of surrender. "No, no, I'm okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. I—"

 _Have to get out._

She blinked rapidly. There was a feeling, a horrible feeling in her gut, that she _had_ to _move_. She shook her head. "We should go. Come on." She waved them toward her and tried for a you-can-trust-me smile. "We'll be safer together."

The aliens blinked as well. They both nodded and moved forward like the same thought had occurred to them. They stayed a few good feet away from Alex, but the three of them made their way in a very together fashion through the ship. It wasn't long before more aliens appeared, all walking in the same general direction. Their little groups acknowledged each other, joined up, and moved on. Alex began to feel safer, more sure of herself. Everyone here was around her height, if a little taller or shorter. Eventually, more humans appeared in the cluster of former captives, but they were all too focused on getting out of this place to try and communicate.

Somehow, they all found the ship's exit. It was at the very bottom floor. Some had taken the lifts, but Alex (and most of the others) used the stairs. More voy bodies littered the entrance hall, but she didn't find that she was quite as scared of them as before. Maybe she'd gotten used to them. Either way, the children moved over and around the bodies as one massive unit, through the open doors, a gaping hole in the side of the ship, and down the ramp to the planet below.

Once they were out, a lot of them stopped to marvel at their surroundings. Alex couldn't see as much as she'd have liked through the crowd, but she saw enough above their heads to know they weren't on Earth anymore. The sky was hazy and greenish. Trees taller than skyscrapers rose all around them from an indeterminable distance away. At ground level, plants with fronds and bushes and patches of various colorful flowers forced the group to scatter like sand in a pinball machine. The ground itself was thick with grass, but Alex's flat shoes pressed into the soft dirt below. The humidity was almost suffocating.

A minute or two passed like this, and Alex began feeling trapped in the crowd. The noise of alien voices speaking words she couldn't understand made her ears feel stuffed with cotton. She tried to shuffle closer to the ship, but everyone else was pushing in the opposite direction. When, finally, she'd made it back to the doors, she found them closed. She placed her hand on the metal. It was cool. It didn't open for her like the inner doors. She was trapped outside, on this planet, effectively alone.

"But how?" she breathed. Her voice didn't come out the way it should have. Something about the air made it sound distant. She shivered. _Teleport maybe? The same thing as before?_ "The whole ship?" And why were all the voy _dead?_

That's when it hit her.

 _They were all dead._

Alex swallowed down sick. Whatever had happened, it hadn't been the voy. The Tirmus couldn't have had the power to do it, or else they would have done it ages ago. They wouldn't have been at war. Alex wouldn't have been rescued from their ship. It wasn't the Doctor—

Her heart skipped a beat. The edge of her vision blurred. "No," she murmured. "No. He wouldn't. They were trying to help. The Tirmoys were good." Even beneath the oppressive atmosphere, she heard her voice crack with emotion. She moved her hand away from the ship and found it shaking. "Maybe it was an accident," she breathed. "Tried to save us. Or..."

Alex blinked. It was a normal blink, but somehow, within the space of time her eyes were closed, the metal object in front of her had vanished.

She stumbled backwards. The _ship_ —the entire _ship_ had just disappeared, like it was never there except that the greenery before her lay flattened, a field of crushed wildlife at the edge of a forest.

Her breathing grew heavy. _Is that what happened to us?_ She clenched her fists, trying to keep down the rising panic. The Doctor and Rose were gone. She was on another planet, who knew how far away, and she'd just watched countless aliens— _people—_ die. She thought back to New Earth, to the plague patients and all the people who had probably died then. The ship that invaded on Christmas, Jackie's concern over "getting into trouble." The way Rose's first inclination after everything was settled on New Earth was to go out for ice cream.

Alex steeled herself. This was exactly the kind of thing she had signed up for. She wasn't just another one of these helpless kids; she could do something.

Step one: Ask questions, find out what's going on.

She looked around. The other kids were all as confused and lost as she was. But someone must have brought them here, and someone must have made that ship disappear. She had to find that someone.

 _That way._

She started across the crushed plant-life to the opposite side of the clearing. Possibly assuming she knew what was going on, others began to follow. By the time she reached the first tree, Alex was sure she had the entire crowd behind her.

Stepping into the forest (or was it a jungle?) felt like stepping through a curtain of warm water. The further they went, the less sunlight filtered its way through the trees. The plants felt warm to the touch. There was a smell in the air like lilacs and dirt after a light rain. It was beautiful, but it felt wrong somehow. Maybe it was the lack of insects crawling on her skin, or maybe just the general sense of fear being trapped on another world.

There was a soft breath of wind, and Alex shivered as it made its way around her before moving off.

She followed it.

An indiscernible amount of time later, Alex wasn't in a forest anymore, and not everyone around her had come from the ship. The trees had closed over them in a twisted building shape, lower plants forming walls and push-through doorways. They were in a front room of some kind, where the ground faded into marble about half-way in, and stairs made of plant life led up into the trees. Taller aliens dressed in various shades of green bustled about in the foliage, urging the kids in all different directions. Some of Alex's companions moved away on their own, apparently sure of their mission. No one breathed a word.

For a moment, it was chilling. Then a flash of white hot terror hit as Alex realized what was happening. _This_ was whoever had brought them here. This _place_ was exactly where they'd wanted them to go. And those feelings... they had controlled them all somehow. Some kind of psychic suggestion? Was that a thing?

Something told her she should go up the stairs. She started moving, then stopped, feeling sick. _Why?_ No, she had to... figure out what was going on.

Alex turned and grabbed the arm of one of the new aliens. They looked human, if dressed a bit strangely. They had brown skin, and their clothes looked like they'd been woven from leaves. Their arm, though, felt rough like bark. It was some kind of tree person! That would have been fascinating, but Alex was too tense to care.

The alien turned away from the apparently boneless mass they'd been guiding away from the group to frown at her. They didn't have a mouth, or a nose for that matter, but somehow the pitch black eyes alone managed to convey a look of displeasure. Alex forced herself to keep her grip on their arm. "What's going on?" she demanded. "Who are you?"

From somewhere else, a thought occurred to her: _I should let go. I should go up those stairs and leave them be._

Alex let go and whirled around. Those weren't her thoughts. That wasn't what she wanted—but it _felt_ like she was thinking it. "Oh no," she muttered, trying for defiance. It may have come out more as frightened and worried. She turned back to the tree person, but they were already moving through a leafy doorway in the side of the room, hand on the back of that alien blob.

 _I should just go. I shouldn't worry._

"No," she said again, firmly this time. "No, I need to stop this."

Apparently, the suggestion wasn't as powerful as all that, because the other thought simply slipped away at her words. She turned to the nearest kid from the ship. She was human, or looked human anyway, and was making her way toward the far corner of the room. Alex grabbed her arm. She flinched and tried to pull away, but Alex dug her fingers in.

"Let go a' me!"

A flood of relief made Alex loosen her grip. The girl pulled away. Alex held out a hand. "Hold on, don't go over there."

The girl stopped and gave her a quizzical look. "You speak English."

"Yeah," Alex laughed with relief. "Yeah, you too. Listen, um, that's not you."

The girl blinked. "What?"

"That thought, the need to go over there." She pointed in the direction the girl had been moving. "That's not you. Something's pulling us in here."

The girl looked around the room, taking in the almost military organization of newcomers. Outside their tiny bubble, the world continued to move around them. It was almost surreal. She swallowed. Her voice shook as she asked, "What is this?"

Alex clenched her fists. "I don't know, but we have to stop it. Help me snap everyone out of it. _Please,"_ she added when the girl made to speak. "Don't listen to it. Don't go out of the room."

Slowly, the girl began to nod. "What's yer name?" she asked timidly.

"Alex."

"Sophie."

"Nice." Alex smiled. She was getting anxious. She had the overwhelming sense that she shouldn't be talking to Sophie, shouldn't be stopping the process, should probably just go off on her own and—yeah, that was probably the better idea, or something bad would happen. Something _really_ bad would happen.

She swallowed it down. "Get everyone to go back," she told Sophie. "Back to where the ship was."

Sophie nodded, but her eyes were beginning to glaze over. Alex grabbed her arm again, and she winced. "Ow!"

"Don't listen," Alex said again, then turned away. She couldn't continue interacting with that girl. It was... _wrong._ Of course, she knew it probably wasn't her own thoughts, but the anxiety was making it hard to think.

She stepped closer to the center of the room and faced the incoming stream of children. She raised her arms. "HEY!" A few kids paused to look at her. Most of the few kept moving after a moment. Sophie ran into the crowd and started jostling people, which was turning out to be far more effective than shouting. Alex grabbed the nearest alien, something humanoid and light brown with a beak-like head and batty ears. She didn't know if they would understand her, so she pointed back the way they'd come and pushed on them. "Go back! This isn't safe. Go _back."_

The alien said something in yet another strange language, more dubious than angry or scared. Alex pushed with both hands and went to the next random person—some kind of anthropomorphic badger. She tried the same process with that one, then turned to whoever happened to notice the interaction and shouted at them to do the same. "Get out!"

The air was beginning to get restless. No plant life moved, but Alex felt something pushing at her, and more thoughts that couldn't have been hers: _I need to stop. This is bad. It's going to put them in danger. I'm going to die if I don't stop. I need to go up those stairs. This is stupid. I should stop._

Tears welled in her eyes at the horrible anxiety of _wrongness_ flooding through her. She tried to think. This wasn't working. A few kids had screamed and run out, but most were still confusedly moving forward. Some started crying as they walked.

A taller alien, not one of the kids, approached Alex. This one wasn't a tree person. He looked almost human, if not for the weird ridges in his face, and his eyes were black as the being before. He smiled down at her and spoke in a soft voice, so quiet she wasn't sure if she was even hearing it. "It's going to be okay. We're here to protect you. Come with me." He reached out a hand, fully expecting Alex to give in.

She wanted to. For a moment, she reached out to grasp his hand, but she forced herself to keep back. It was an arduous task. Curling her hands into fists, she said, "I don't trust you," then winced because that was probably the least helpful thing she could have said.

The room was almost empty now. There had been maybe a hundred kids or more, but the crowd had thinned so that Alex could see the last dozen or so wandering inside. She suddenly knew what the initial wrongness she'd felt was: It was the silence. Without the overwhelming noise of a mob of small people tramping through the foliage, there was nothing—no wind, no insects, no animals, no voices. And yet, despite all that, the forest was far from empty.

The tall alien reached out and grabbed Alex's hand. She let him lead her forward for a few seconds, then pulled back. In the same instance, another restless, nonexistent breeze came swirling over her, and the world was gone.

* * *

The first thing she could sense was the smell of grass. It was nice, but the strength of it made her teeth hurt. The next sense was the feeling of lying on her back with her head tilted to one side. She felt something, possibly a blade of grass, tickle her wrinkling nose, and she reached up to rub it as her eyes fell open to a canopy that allowed green rays of light to slant below the trees.

Alex blinked. She was sure she had just been dreaming, which was interesting since—so far—she hadn't remembered any of her dreams. Was it her sleep? Had she woken up too fast? Memories slipped from her grasp.

Someone entered her vision. She turned her head. It was a green alien, like the ones she'd met back on the ship, but also not the ones she'd met on the ship. He (he looked human enough that Alex thought she could be sure) said something in what sounded like the same language.

Judging his tone, Alex opened her mouth to respond with, "Yeah, I'm fine," but what came out was something more like "Wh'appened?"

Another voice said something in a different alien language. Alex tried to crane her neck backwards. When that didn't work, she turned and sat up to get an better view of her surroundings.

First thing, she noted the aliens. There were three of them, all different species, though all basically humanoid. There was that green-with-bumps one she'd just seen, one with no legs that moved with a slug-shaped mass of muscles at his torso (gross), and a grey one with a bulbous, bald head and disturbingly deep eye sockets.

For a second, Alex thought they were in the middle of a forest or a jungle. The air was hot and humid, the ground (as previously observed) was grass, and they were surrounded by trees and foliage. But then she looked again, and it was obvious they were still in that building made of plants. The "walls" were thick, thorny bushes, and two stumps sprang from the ground on either end of the room like low tables. Alex could see no way out of the area.

The slug boy said something in that other unrecognizable language. The big-headed one (whose gender was completely undefinable to Alex) murmured something in yet another language. The green one shuffled closer to Alex. He reached out a tentative hand, eyes wide with worry.

Alex tried to focus on her breathing. If she did that, she could clear her head enough to think. Hopefully. "I'm fine," she assured the green boy, grateful for the bit of... Was there a word that meant _humanity_ but didn't limit the sentiment to humans? She'd have to ask Rose later.

She swallowed nervously. _Rose._ She had to get back to her and the Doctor. She _had_ to.

"No one speaks English?" Alex asked of the trio. They all shook their heads, which she thought a bit contradictory.

She sighed and crossed her legs to be more comfortable. There were no doors as far as she could tell, and no branches low enough to climb. At the very least, the invisible not-her-thoughts seemed to be gone, so that was something.

The kids dwelt in relative silence for a while. Slug Boy started pacing, or near enough. Green Guy sat with his legs folded, eyes darting around the clearing. The other one (Alex didn't want to call them Big Head or Baldy or Noseless, but she couldn't determine any other unique features) stayed cross-legged on their stump.

Alex stood up and started moving around the walls of the room. She pushed as close as she dared to the prickly thorns, which resulted in many tiny white scratches on her bare arms. Their confinement turned out to be shaped like a perfect circle (as near as she could tell), and there were no clear markings or indications of a door. Frustrated, she got on her hands and knees and started prodding the ground. She examined the stumps for any sort of mechanical hatch, stared into the trees for an elevation system, listened for the sound of any living thing whatsoever—but their prison was absolute.

" _Why?!"_ Alex barked.

Her cellmates jumped. Alex glared at them, then whirled around and started pacing aimlessly. She buried her hands in her hair the way she'd once seen the Doctor do. It was acceptably cathartic.

" _Why_ are we here? _Why_ did they lock us in a room? _Why_ is this whole place a forest? Why did this happen? Why wasn't I locked in alone? Why do I have to... Why can't I... UGH." Alex stamped her foot. She wanted to break something. She was tempted to crash through the thorns, but that would probably be painful and not accomplish anything.

As she passed the second stump, the quiet alien grabbed her arm to stop her pacing. She froze, and for some reason the look she gave them was more confused than angry. Perhaps she'd exhausted all her frustration already.

The alien let go. "Sorry."

Alex stared at them. It took a moment for the word to register. "You talked," she breathed. They tilted their bulbous head and said something quiet that Alex couldn't understand. She frowned. "But you talked. Can you understand me? Why aren't you speaking English?"

The alien winced. They reached out both hands tentatively, a gesture for Alex to take hold. She couldn't read their eyes; they were all black and sunk deep into their sockets. Steeling herself, she let the alien place their hands in hers. For a moment, it felt like she'd pitched forward, but they hadn't moved.

She, the alien, spoke again. "You are very agitated. So are we, but please... the noise you're making is disturbing to me."

Alex stared at her. "Are you psychic?" she breathed.

The alien girl tilted her head to the side. Alex got the sense that she was surprised. "You say that as though you aren't."

Alex let go of her hands, then grabbed on again, just to test the feeling. It was different from normal contact. More like two soap bubbles pressed together. "I can understand you," she said excitedly. "You're not speaking English, but I can understand you. That's so cool."

"Cool?" The girl almost smiled. "Are psychic connections felt as temperatures to your species?"

"Um." Alex let go and held on again. The alien seemed amused by this. "Maybe," Alex decided. Feeling awkward, she sat down next to her on the stump. "Can you tell me how we got in here?"

The alien looked up and pointed at the far wall. "There was a curtain of leaves. Beyond that, a stretch of stone. When I came here, the wall closed, and the leaves shrank away. You and the others came through different positions. I do not know what was on the other side, or if the stone where I came from is still there."

Alex scanned the wall of dangerous plants. She had already looked over there. From what she could tell, there was nothing but forest on the other side. _They can make plants grow and die with their minds,_ she concluded.

The alien shivered. _Disturbing._

Alex yanked her hands away.

"I'm sorry!" the alien yelped, then went off in her own language before realizing Alex couldn't understand anymore. Sheepish, she offered one hand again. Alex touched it cautiously. "I'm sorry," the alien repeated. "You implied your species do not communicate psychically. I should have realized you did not mean to send me that thought."

Now that the shock had, for the most part, worn off, Alex wasn't actually too upset about that. "It's okay," she felt was probably the right thing to say. "I like someone understanding me."

From the other side of the room, Slug Boy spat something in their direction. The girl alien winced.

Alex looked between them. "What'd he say?"

She shook her head. "I do not know. I would have to touch him. I just know that he's loud." She seemed sheepish. "Loud noises are upsetting to my species. Those big monsters were very loud. I am glad to be anywhere but their ship."

Alex nodded. The voy had been abnormally loud.

Slug Boy repeated whatever it was he'd said, and the psychic girl (Alex had to learn her name) winced again. Green Guy said something angry in response, but quieter.

"That said, I would rather go home than stay here."

"What's your name?" Alex asked.

"Delta."

"I'm Alex." She paused. "I know some people who can probably get us all home."

She still couldn't read Delta's expressions, but there was a flutter of hope in her mind. "Truly?"

"Yeah..." Alex glanced around the room again. The boys were watching them both intently. The walls were still thick and unbreakable. "I'm not sure if they know where we are. But they found the ships. They have to find us."

* * *

"I can't find them."

Rose looked up. She was sitting in the captain's chair of the TARDIS console room. They'd been there long enough for her to get bored, go change into a more comfortable outfit (black jeans, a t-shirt, and a frankly stylish denim jacket), and start letting her eyes glaze over. Now she blinked. "What?"

The Doctor spread his hands. "They just vanished. Slipped into another dimension _again,_ but this time a whole ship! _Two_ whole ships. What sort of power can do that to to _two whole ships?_ And there's no trace—look." He moved the console screen around for Rose see. She stood to get a better look, but she could make no sense of the numbers and images. The Doctor tapped on a pulsating 3D figure that looked a bit like a pear. "It doesn't make any sense. The disappearance alone should have released enough energy to ripple across the inter-dimensional barriers within a seventy-three perdecimental radius, or at _least_ shown up here as a basic energy reading." He pointed to a very large number in the corner of the screen. "It's physically impossible—unless..."

Rose looked up at him. "Unless?"

He scritched the back of his head thoughtfully. "Unless... Well, they can't have, but unless they actually went into another physical plane of reality—but that's impossible."

"Another physi—like another universe?" Rose asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "Nah, that's even more impossible. I'm talking about another level of existence, like... antimatter." He held out his hand as if for demonstration. "Antimatter exists sometimes in places where matter cannot. Some black holes are made of antimatter, but it also exists in a sort of universe side-by-side our own, not exactly parallel. It was oncepossible, given enough energy, to break through from that universe into ours. Follow?"

"Yes." Rose leaned with one hand against the console. "I think. But, Doctor, doesn't antimatter explode or something when it touches real matter? I know _that,"_ she added pointedly.

The side of the Doctor's mouth twitched. "Close enough," he agreed. "It _is_ possible to alter the structure of a matter person so they'd survive a place like that, but we can't be sure that's what happened, and—besides..." He ran an anxious hand through his hair. "We don't know what exact plane they've been taken to, assuming it's happened in the first place—and as I said, it—is— _impossible!"_

Rose leaned over to tap on the screen. "Can you check for it?"

The Doctor stared at her. " _Check_ for it?" He scoffed loudly. "You can't _check_ for an inter-dimensional disturbance on that level. There isn't even a word for something like that, not in any human language anyway. _'Can you check.'_ " He scoffed again and switched off the screen.

Rose scowled. "I'm just tryin' to help. We have to find these kids, don't we? Stop the slavery? Save the day?"

The Doctor paused at the controls. "Yes, right. That was rude, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry."

Rose smiled for a moment. "So what _can_ we do?"

The Doctor inhaled deeply. "I really hate to say this, but I don't know."

That was the last thing Rose wanted to hear. She threw up one hand in exasperation. "Well, we have to do something," she insisted. "Alex is our responsibility, and poor Rachel..." She trailed off. The Doctor wasn't saying anything, which was never a good sign. With a despondent sigh, Rose moved to the railing. Her eyes searched the area for some kind of an answer. There was _always_ an answer. So long as the Doctor was there, they couldn't lose.

Her phone rang.

Rose always found some way of keeping it on her, in case something happened while she was away—even when she didn't plan to go out. Out of habit, with her pocketless dress, she'd tucked it under the left side of her bra strap. Now that she was changed, it was in her pocket. She pulled it out. It was Mum. She had to steady her breathing before answering. "Hey, Mum."

Rose heard the Doctor turn behind her.

" _Hi, Rose,"_ Mum greeted warmly. _"_ _Mickey and I got everything under control here. I was just wonderin' if you and the Doctor have figured anything out. No pressure, of course, but I'm not sure how long I can keep everyone distracted. Are you sure we can't call the police? I mean, will anything bad happen? It would make Rachel feel much better."_

Rose turned to the Doctor. He raised an eyebrow. She pressed a hand over the receiver. "They want to call the police."

"That wouldn't do any good."

"I know, but Mum thinks it would make them feel better. Now we know they're out of range of the Earth, would it be okay you think?"

The Doctor thought about it, then shook his head. "We don't want our friends at Barnaby's running scared. If there's anyone left, that is."

"Right." Into the phone, Rose said, "No, Mum, you can't. I'm sorry."

Mum sighed. _"_ _Well—do you at least know where Percy and Alex went? The Doctor said you were chasing some signal, yeah?"_

"Yeah..." Rose tried to think of something to say that didn't sound absolutely devastating. She couldn't. "Mum, I'll be there in a minute. We should talk in person, 'kay?"

" _'Kay,"_ came the uncertain reply. _"_ _We went back to the flat. Tell 'im not to land the TARDIS inside. He'll freak everybody out."_

"Okay, Mum. Love you."

" _Love you too, dear. See you in a minute."_

 _Beep._

Rose shut her phone. The Doctor was already setting the coordinates. "Don't land in the flat," she warned him.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They found a grim party back at the Powell Estate. They'd been gone for about forty-five minutes Earth time, and thus far, no one had left. It was as though they were determined not to go home until the whole situation was resolved. Rose's mum greeted them at the door and led them out into the living room, where the dozen or so people from her failed birthday party had gathered around the TV set.

It showed a man with a microphone in front of a nondescript building. Police lights flashed somewhere off-screen. _"_ _Suspects are yet to be identified,"_ the man announced, " _but there's tell of an investigation underway as reports come in all across the world of the exact same mystery: Children are disappearing from birthday parties held at a new pop-up franchise called_ Barnaby's Parties and Menageries _. Despite their lack of any known backing or previous reputation, the company's managed to set up shop in every major city around the globe, every one of which seems to be guilty of this phenomenon. There is no no indication of who is responsible, and the authorities refuse to comment."_

"Oi, turn that off." Rose squeezed into the living room and snatched the remote from the coffee table."S'not gonna help anyone to get worked up about it."

A sob from the couch caught her attention. It was Rachel, arms wrapped around her three remaining children. George sat next to them, eyes red with suppressed emotion, one hand on his daughter's arm. The entire room had arranged itself so everyone was facing the family's general direction. George twisted around to get a look at the Doctor, who stood stiffly in the dining room. "It's happening everywhere. Doctor, do you really know what you're doing? Have you got your colleagues involved?"

"We're sortin' it," Rose assured him. "We found out where they went—haven't we, Doctor?"

The room turned to the Doctor. He raised his eyebrows incredulously, glanced at the silent Mickey in the corner of the room. Rose nodded for him to go on. He opened his mouth. "Erm, yes, in a manner of speaking. My... colleagues and I know who's involved. We just need a little more time to... actually... get to them."

Voices sprung up immediately with further questions. The Doctor made a face. He turned to leave, and Rose ran after him. Behind them, she heard her mother address the room: "The Doctor's a busy man. I'll see if I can't get anything out of him. All of you, stay put. Mickey, why don't you find a movie to put on?"

"But Rose—"

"Mickey, please."

The Doctor stopped by the apartment door. Rose and her mum caught up with him. The latter placed her hands on her hips. "Well?" she prodded.

The Doctor opened his mouth as if to tell her outright what the situation was, but something stopped him. He grimaced, turned to Rose, and made a sound like a choking frog.

She sighed. "We don't know where they are."

" _What?"_ Mum whispered harshly.

"We _did_ find them," Rose assured her, raising her hands to placate. "But they tricked us and... disappeared somehow."

"Disappeared—disappeared _how?"_

"I dunno, Mum, but we'll figure it out."

Mum turned on the Doctor, who flashed her a smile so forced it looked like a grimace. "I told you," she hissed. "I _told_ you it was a bad idea to bring that poor girl along."

"It was her choice," the Doctor said defensively.

"Her _choice."_ Mum scoffed. "Now I _know_ you've never had kids."

"Mum," Rose cut in, "it's more complicated than that."

"I don't care if it's bloody rocket science!" Mum paused to glance back at the living room. She lowered her voice. "Just tell me they're alive. That broadcast was saying _hundreds_ of kids were taken. Tell me they're still alive, Doctor."

"They're..." The Doctor glanced to the side. "...probably alive."

" _Probably?"_

"Well, there was a bit of a scuffle, but I'm sure most of them survived at least, and I talked to Alex, and she said Percy was okay, and she was fine at the time. Anyway, the voy are traders. They're not going to kill them. Of course, they might want them for experiments or meat, in which case..." He trailed off, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. After a moment, he began nodding. "Yes, yes, they're probably fine."

" _Doctor."_

"I'll find them," he insisted. "I'm just... not sure how yet."

Mum let out a harsh sigh. It looked like she was about to rip the Doctor a new one when Mickey stepped up behind her and Rose. He tapped the latter on the shoulder. "What about the company? The news said they'd vanished, but you can use the TARDIS to track 'em down, right? Get 'em to tell us where they went?"

The Doctor frowned. "That's—"

"The best idea we've got," Rose finished, cutting off what was no doubt going to be a stressed-out insult that Mickey would complain about for days. She grabbed Mickey's arm and leaned in for a peck on the cheek, then addressed him and her mother. "We _will_ find them. Tell everyone I'm sorry and, please, make them go home tonight and get some rest. We can do the party another time." Mum started to interrupt, but Rose raised a hand. "Please, Mum. I'm sorry. I know you wanted this to be a normal family thing, and—I'm _so_ sorry."

Mum pursed her lips. Rose could see her tension ebbing until, finally, the elder Tyler nodded. "Yes, alright. _All right._ I know it's not your fault, and this is far more important. Go... save the world."

Rose felt her own stress ease at her mother's words. They hugged. "I will, Mum. Doctor?"

He was already half-way out the door. "What? You coming?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Alex wasn't sure how much time passed while she was trapped in that room. The light above had begun to dim by the time the far wall unpeeled. The plants withered and browned as it fell away and disappeared. In moments, there was a clear, open doorway that led to a spiral staircase in the ground. Before it stood a pod-like structure made of various types of leaves, all green and alive as if recently plucked. The structure shifted, alive, and moved into the room. A sort of wing shape stretched from the core, revealing its hollow inside. It looked like an arm.

The pod gestured at the slug boy. He backed away, but the leaves weren't having it. They flew from the being in a sudden gust of wind, attached themselves to him, and dragged him wailing out of the room. The thorny wall of plants grew back before anyone had time to think.

Silence. It had all happened so fast. The only reaction from any of the others had been Delta's whimpers of pain at the noise.

A breeze made Alex blink. She forced her fist to uncurl itself. Her heart was beating like thunder in her chest.

Delta said something softly and reached out both her hands. Alex took the one closest to her, and the other remaining child crawled over to hold the other. "I'm frightened," Delta whispered.

"Me too," said the other. His name was Biston. They had never gotten the name of Slug Boy.

"Yeah," was all Alex could bring herself to say in agreement. She felt like her mind was racing at a million miles a minute, but no thoughts were getting through. "We... we need..." She couldn't think. She couldn't finish that simple sentence.

The others got it. They both nodded, but neither had anything to offer.

Alex was beginning to worry about Percy. By now, she must have known these two aliens better than she knew him, but she felt responsible somehow. Had he been taken to wherever Slug Boy had gone? Where was that? What were they doing to people down there? Alex didn't want to get back to the Earth and have to tell Percy's family that he'd disappeared into a foreign planet.

 _We need to find out who they are,_ she thought, managing now to straighten some concepts in her head. _We need to find out how they took us here._

Delta squeezed her hand. She must have heard that. "Do you think," Delta asked discretely, "that it would be helpful to learn about this place?"

Biston noted that she'd been addressing Alex and turned his wide eyes on the human. Alex cast her eyes to the ground. It took her a moment to sort through her thoughts, put them to words, and then make herself speak. She wasn't used to being looked to for answers. "Rose said the first thing you do in a dangerous situation is ask the right questions. We don't have anyone to ask... but maybe if we think of questions, we can find out anyway."

There was a large gap of silence before Biston offered, "What was that leaf thing?"

"I don't kn—oh." Alex flushed. "That's the question."

Biston smiled awkwardly. "Yeah."

"Right."

They sat thinking for a while. Alex wished her heart would calm down and her stomach would untwist, because it was really hard to sort her thoughts when she was feeling this anxious. She tried not to think it too hard, but she really wished Rose and the Doctor were there. Or just one of them. Either one would be able to figure out what to do. Alex didn't know how to do things like this. She didn't know anything. All she knew was what she'd seen, and she hadn't seen much. She had so little to go on, so little experience to pull from. For a moment, she really wished she could remember who she was, because maybe she was someone who would know what to do.

As it was, though, she didn't have anything. Step one: Ask questions. Step two..? Well, that probably had something to do with the answers to the questions. That leaf thing didn't seem to have a body, at least not one with a brain and bones and organs and such. It wasn't a robot, either. Alex had seen robots on Water World, and they had moving parts. These were just wind and leaves, like the invisible thoughts that had brought them here in the first place. Maybe they were the same thing?

What didn't have a brain, but still had a mind? That sounded familiar. _'No barrier.'_

Delta turned her bulbous head at that thought. Alex winced. That thought had been personal. She had to be more careful.

But she'd been onto something there. She let go of Delta's hand. When she and Biston stared at her, she held up a finger like _one moment._ Alex wasn't sure if that was universal, but Biston seemed to get it.

 _'I've never met anyone with a brain that had a mind like that. Plants, sure, and I once knew a very lovely gaseous creature...'_

Alex exhaled slowly. _Wind and leaves and thoughts. Could it be... Are they like me? But without brains? 'No barrier.' That might explain how they get into people's heads so easily. They're just thought creatures? Or psychic plants?_

Biston said something. Alex paused to think, then took Delta's offered hand. Now that it was on her mind, the feeling of being _just_ connected to another person's mind wasn't at all uncomfortable to Alex. She wondered if she'd done it a lot before she'd lost her memories. She wondered if Delta could feel the difference between her mind and Biston's.

"Did you think of something?" Biston asked nervously.

"Kinda. They have a... gravitationally elastic psyche."

"A what?" Delta asked.

Alex shrugged reflexively. "That's what the Doctor called it. They, um..." How had he put it? "It keeps itself together, but there's nothing protecting it. They don't have brains. I think."

"You think?" Biston repeated.

"Did you see one?" she challenged.

"Er... no."

Delta spoke up. "Does this bring us anywhere?"

Alex tried very hard not to get angry at that response. She wasn't sure why it was supposed to make her angry. Maybe it was because she was tense, and no one else had come up with anything even remotely helpful. "What do _you_ think?" she replied, trying very hard not to sound challenging.

Delta's hand loosened. She turned her head away, and they were silent again.

After a little while, everyone dropped their hands. It became dark, but not too dark to see. A few stray tendrils of thin vine in the walls began to glow. Alex realized she was exhausted. She might have been exhausted for a while now. There was no way to tell how long it had been. Biston crawled away and leaned against a stump. Delta's perfect posture failed her.

At some point, Alex ended up lying on her back, staring up at the stars. The sky here was just as black as... Well, Alex hadn't seen a proper night sky in all her memory. It had been cloudy on Christmas, and Water World's apartments had been underwater. Here, the little bit of sky she could see was a deep, deep color, probably blue or green, but it looked black. White stars speckled the darkness above the trees. There were no sounds apart from the children's own movement. It was eerie.

Alex had just closed her eyes, resigned to her body's needs, when there was another sound. Behind her, the wall crinkled and shifted to signal another opening. Her heart jumped, and she turned to scramble away from this new gap in the wall. Illuminated by the vines, what seemed to be a woman stood there in a blue dress, a dress that was dark, dirty, and much too small for her. Her skin was grey, so she must not have been human, and her hair was a messy blonde. Her eyes were too dim in the poor lighting to see, but Alex got the impression that she was looking at her.

Behind Alex, the others moved away.

The woman in the doorway stretched out an arm. Alex scooted back some more, too nervous to make any sudden movements. The arm wouldn't come flying off, would it? She couldn't be sure—until she was. It didn't come off, but the woman crooked her finger, and Alex suddenly wanted to go over there.

She started to stand, then stopped herself. _No._

There was a burst of wind at Alex's back that forced her upright. The woman's hand darted forward, and she grabbed her arm. Alex yelped. She tried to pull away, but the woman was too strong. They started into the hole in the wall. Biston shouted something after them; the sound seemed muffled under Alex's own heartbeat, only to be cut off when the foliage closed again behind her.

Contrary to what Alex felt should be true, one's own heartbeat turned out not to be a very comforting sound in an otherwise silent darkness. She couldn't tell if the alien woman was taking her down a hill, or if they were going underground. The frail light now came solely from the vines.

A few moments passed, and Alex found herself walking along in compliance. Her heartbeat slowed. For a few minutes, the loudest sound she could hear was her own stifled breathing. Walls of earth rose up on either side. The slope spiraled down, but the glowing vines extended below them. Without light from the sky, it felt like she was being led through a still painting, all blacks and greens.

Eventually, she managed to unclog her throat and croak out, "Where are we going?"

No response. The woman's grip was firm but not painful, and she never pulled so hard that Alex would trip. Somehow, that made it even scarier when the slope leveled out, the walls opened up, and the woman let go of her entirely.

They'd reached a cave with no lights apart from those on the entrance they'd just come through, pitch blackness that could have gone one forever as far as Alex could tell. The only reason she knew it didn't stop right in front of them was the sense of hugeness from the rustling sounds of their own movements.

Seeing the woman distracted, Alex turned around to run back up the path, but she was met with an earthy wall indistinguishable from the rest of her surroundings. A tiny bit of glowing vine stuck out in one place above her head. There was a smell like fresh dirt and cut grass that grew stronger when she stepped up to the wall to place her hand on it. The dirt was soft. She pressed her fingers into it, half-hoping the wall would collapse under the pressure, but it was solid.

Behind her, Alex heard the woman's gentle footsteps as she retreated into the darkness. Something pressured her to follow. Her chest felt tight. Without turning, she called, "What do you want me here for?"

The footsteps stopped.

Suddenly, a searing white light filled Alex's vision. With a gasp, she screwed her eyes shut. Something pushed or pulled or nudged, and she was stumbling blindly backwards into something hard, flat, and cold. Once she was there, her body seemed to gravitate into it; she couldn't move. She tried opening her eyes, but the light was still painful to look at. Something moved on her right—something alive—and she tried opening just one eye, just a squint. She couldn't make anything out, but at least it wasn't unbearable.

An intrusive thought: _Am I going to die?_

Alex choked on her next breath. No, nonono—no—that wasn't a good thought. She was barely even alive. She couldn't die here! She couldn't die _now_. She strained against her invisible bonds, but the best she could do was furiously tense up her lacking muscles. A sound built in her throat—a growl, then a whine, then a tearing shout: "LETMEGO!"

Something touched her neck, and she flinched. The force keeping her down applied pressure to her head in response, preventing her from moving an inch as whatever it was pressed a cold, tingly object into her skin. A pathetic whimper escaped her throat. She tried to squint at whoever— _whatever_ had pinned her down, but the light was still too bright, and her head wouldn't move, and the light was definitely coming from _directly_ above her.

After a horrifying moment and a few dozen heartbeats, the pressure lifted. A small prickling still violated Alex's personal space at the base of her neck, and she couldn't remove her arms or legs from their still positions, but she could move her head and shrug her shoulders and basically not feel like a balloon being pressed into water anymore. She let out a strained sigh of relief, then she opened her eyes.

She had to blink a few times, but it wasn't physically painful now. As her eyes adjusted, the scene painted itself into view. Above her: A metal ceiling, winding lights... a clinical surface intertwined with plant life. To her left, she could see a similarly silver wall, and then an area where metal collided with earth. On the far end of the room, it was all dirt and rock and roots like a shallow cave. To the right, Alex caught sight of a flimsy-looking structure of wires and cables. It had a generally cylindrical shape, but no solid surface beyond the frame.

Alarmingly, Alex couldn't turn her head as far in that direction. Something blocked the movement, pressing against the side of her head and neck. If she stared straight ahead, she could make out a silver tube out of the corner of her eye that stretched from her to the edge of this metal surface she was stuck to.

Apart from her disturbing physical surroundings, Alex could feel the same presence she'd felt approach her in the dark. It felt similar to the thoughts that weren't hers, or to the wind that wasn't _really_ wind, blowing her around. There was someone there, maybe multiple someones, but _she couldn't see them._

She was already panting. Now, she breathed, "Like... ghosts?"

There was no response, but Alex knew she'd been heard. Swallowing dryly, she added, "Or aliens. Aliens makes sense. Or maybe not aliens, because this is your planet." She couldn't keep her voice steady. Terrified tears stung at her eyes. She couldn't do anything but talk, so she spoke half-sobbing. "Y-you... Who are you? Who are you? What are you doing to me? _Please._ Say something. I know you're there."

Something moved: The thing at her neck. She squeaked, trying frantically to get a look at what had caused the movement. At the same time, the structure on that side shivered, and the whole world began to hum.

The woman from earlier stepped into view. In this lighting, Alex noticed things she was glad not to have seen before. The woman's skin wasn't actually grey; it was blue. Or it _should_ have been blue, as evidenced by various shades of the color in blotchy damage all over her skin. She had odd lumps in her arms, and her nose was bent at a wrong angle. Her eyes were grey—not just glazed over, but faded out. It was like her irises had bled into the whites of her eyes. She faced Alex for a moment, then turned and stepped into the wiry thing.

 _WOW_ , Alex was scared. This fear was so unlike anything she could have ever imagined before, it was actually fascinating. She tried to focus on that. "What's going on?" she asked breathily. The thing at her neck seemed to tighten, pinching invasively. She inhaled sharply. " _Ow."_ She tried for sounding offended. The woman in the frame closed her eyes. Alex squirmed. "I might—hey. Why don't we talk? Please? Urgh, what would Rose say?" She squeezed her eyes shut, which sent tears rolling down her face. She mouthed some things she thought Rose might have come up with: _This is wrong. You don't want to do this. You're better than this. This is illegal._

A familiar feeling entered her mind. Intrusion. Alex swallowed down a lump in her throat. "You _really_ don't want to do that," she murmured shakily. Connections went buzzing through her head: _Ghosts, zombie, tiny dress, kids—bodies._ She started hyperventilating. "Oh no."

It was definitely hostile. Alex had sorted a difference between when Cassandra tried to take over her body, when the Doctor had looked into her mind, and when Delta had made a linguistic connection. She found them fascinating, if a bit uncomfortable. This was _so_ different, which she might have also found fascinating if she got out of it alive. A presence—a consciousness—fell into hers. The only thing even remotely similar she could compare it to was when the Doctor had slipped. _Feelings_ bled into her.

 _Frustrated._

 _Scared._

 _Desperate._

 _It's different._

 _Curious._

Alex couldn't do much else but look at these thoughts. Images flashed through her head: Fire, explosions, metal, a hand on a door and shouting and pain and dying and the secret attempt to _save them all from this godforsaken war._

Another war? Alex shivered violently. She was dimly aware of her eyes falling open, of seeing the woman in the little girl's dress. She saw her thoughts, which was... interesting. _Hope—_ she was feeling hope. Another idea was _disappointment._ It was almost like multiple minds were stirring Alex's thoughts around and around all at once.

The woman opened her eyes, and they were bright blue now, though the color still bled into the whites. She took a ragged breath and met the eyes of the girl on the table. They were half-closed, blinking every second or two. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she shook like a nervous kitten, but the connection was forming without any damage. The ego smiled.

Thoughts that weren't her own floated about in Alex's semiconsciousness—not words or ideas, but some kind of basic knowledge that one would know without thinking, like how to walk or speak or memories of how things smelled.

This was _wrong._ This was so _wrong._ She panicked, reached up and yanked the silver tube from her neck. It was a thin needle, so thin there was no blood, but it was long and deep and left an uncomfortable sick feeling behind it.

Her mind snapped back like a rubber band. She was back in her own body, but remnants of the thoughts lingered. The woman in the machine made a sound that might have been protest. Alex shoved herself away from the slanted metal table and half stumbled, half ran to the other end of the room, the edge of where the ship had been buried. Pushing through the invisible crowd, she told the door to fall open and ran through a waterfall of dirt that couldn't quite keep up with her movements, up the slop as the barrier fell away before her.

It wasn't real. None of it was real. Those were the thoughts in her head, in the minds that wanted to use her. This entire planet was subservient to conscious willpower. Here, _everyone_ was part of the force that bound this world.

As she burst out of the ground, Alex wondered for a moment why there weren't kids running around already, realizing they had the power to escape. Then the ground tried to swallow her up, the wind tried to push her back, a tree in the dark reached out to grab her—and it was all she could do to move forward, crashing right into the room she'd been trapped in less than an hour ago. Foreign _thoughts_ bombarded her with requests to go back, insistence that this was wrong and pointless and something horrible would happen. Anxiety grew in her stomach, but Alex forced herself swallow it down.

"Delta," she gasped, "Biston."

The aliens were on their feet instantly. They started talking at once in their various languages. Alex ran over and grabbed both their wrists. She tried to send her understanding of this world into their minds, the way she'd spoken to Delta by accident. The bulbous-headed alien gasped and snatched Biston's hand away from Alex. In a moment, his eyes widened.

"Run," Alex panted. She felt like she'd just run a mile, was still running, and had a long way to go. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She repeated, _"_ _RUN!"_ and went off in a random direction, dragging her new friends behind her in a chain.

All those wrong feelings, ever since the voy had dropped dead—Alex got what it was now. It was _people,_ or this world's equivalent. Minds without bodies, thoughts without form. They were... something, and... something had happened, and they wanted... something. The knowledge was fading, but the simple fact remained: They were everywhere, and they were pulling her in every direction but the one she was going in. The whole world became a surreal abstract painting as plants and rocks moved to obstruct their path, only to be erased or pushed away or for the kids to struggle through it. The only thing that kept them going was a heap of collective adrenaline (or whatever served as adrenaline in their respective species).

They eventually burst through a wall of plants into another occupied clearing. Three young aliens—a cat boy, a girl the same species as Biston, and a six-armed thing with one eye—jumped away from them.

"Lollin!" Biston broke away from their chain and ran to the green spiked girl. They hugged and spoke frantically to each other in their language.

Alex squeezed Delta's hand in frustration. They had to keep moving! They couldn't stop, or... or they'd stop. "Biston," she called shakily.

He glanced back at her, said something to his friend. She responded, and he led her over to Delta. He took her hand. "This is my sister. I—"

"There's no time!" Alex growled. Delta winced. "We need to keep going."

Biston blinked. His eyes flickered around the dim room as the air around them pressed in. He swallowed. "O-okay, but we should bring these guys."

"Yeah, yeah. Good." Alex bounced from foot to foot, beginning to drag Delta away. "Let's go. Bring everyone."

"But Delta—"

"We don't need to talk to tell them to _run,"_ Alex snapped. She let go of Delta and ran to the other side of the room. A path opened before her. Immediately, the plant life began to close in again. She waved at the others to hurry. Biston and Delta moved closer and helped keep it open long enough for everyone to get moving.

Alex had no clue where she was going, but the invisible beings around her didn't seem to be able to do much more than make her sick and panicked. At one point, the six-armed alien started to wander away, possibly succumbing to their psychic intrusion, but Lollin grabbed one of its claws, which resulted in a chain that included everyone but the cat boy. When they emerged from a wall of bushes onto the edge of a dead field, Alex realized they'd lost him somewhere in the forest.

The ghosts weren't as crushing out here. Alex broke away from the chain and stumbled to a halt a few yards away. For a few seconds, it was all white noise: the black sky dotted with stars; the empty field, a desert before her; the air, and the natural breeze that made her blink. It was gone. The suffocating, angry thoughts of _go back, go back, stay here!_ were gone.

She felt sick.

A hand took hers. It was Delta. "Did you ask the right question?"

It took a moment for the meaning of that reference to register. "Think I'm just lucky," Alex wheezed.

"No more minds out here. Do you know what to do next?"

Alex turned on her. " _No!"_

Delta winced.

Alex swallowed. "S-sorry. _No._ I hate—" She tried to keep her voice down. "I hate being... _in charge._ I don't know. _Why—_ why do... Why doesn't anyone _else_ know what to do? What are you anyway?"

Delta's hand twitched. "What?"

"What are you? I'm human," Alex offered, hoping that would rescind any indication of rudeness in the question. "I don't know what any of you are."

It took a moment for her to respond. "I'm a sensorite," she murmured. "I'm from the Sense Sphere."

"I don't know where that is."

"Where are you from?"

"Earth, I think."

"I don't know where that is."

Alex thought that was probably supposed to elicit a smile. For whatever reason, it didn't. She stared up at the sky, searching for any sign of movement. Just stars. "I don't feel safe," she whispered.

"We are probably not safe," said Delta. "Those things may be able to leave their forest."

Alex swallowed down some nausea. "Thanks."

A moment passed. "Maybe one of the others has an idea."

"Yeah..."

"You need to sit down. We all need to rest."

"...Yeah."

"Alex."

Alex blinked. She'd been stuck staring at the sky. She turned to her little group. There were two humanoids with green skin and little bumps all over them, one yellow thing with six arms and one eye that might have been humanoid if it didn't look like a bug, and a sensorite. Alex considered herself very lucky to have ended up with a language-translating psychic.

Delta spoke quietly to each alien, and they sat in a tight circle about four car-lengths away from the edge of the forest. The sensorite sat with both arms out so everyone could put a hand (or claw) on them, head down in concentration.

"How did you escape?" Biston asked Alex.

She took a moment to respond. "They're trying to... steal bodies or something. I saw their thoughts for a minute. They were relying on me not knowing about the mind thing."

"But that alien they took," Lollin said. "They didn't come back. They didn't escape."

The one-eyed thing chirped in agreement. "Yeah, what did you do?"

Alex could only assume it had something to do with her confusing brain. She didn't want to have to explain herself, so she shrugged. "They must have messed up."

"But this world," One Eye squeaked. "It bends to the mind. Can we use that to escape?"

"Not unless someone knows how to build a spaceship," Lollin pointed out.

No knew how to build a spaceship.

Alex was getting agitated again. Not that she'd ever stopped being agitated, but it had been a low, focused level of agitation. "Maybe the Doctor and Rose will find me again," she murmured.

Delta cocked her head. "The people you know who can get us all home?"

The others straightened. "Can you contact them?" Lollin asked urgently. "Send for help?"

Alex shook her head.

Biston glanced around. "Does anyone know how to build a communicator?"

No one did.

"How far away are they?" One Eye asked.

"I dunno," Alex muttered.

"Could we use this world's power? Send a message with our minds?" They hesitated. "Is that how it works? I don't know... Maybe Delta could."

"I need physical contact for psychic talking."

"Are we all gonna die?" Biston moaned.

"There's no way out," Lollin whimpered. "We're all going to be used as experiments o-or—or starve, or..."

Alex let go of Delta's hand, and the chattering dissolved into gibberish alien noises. She tried to think. She _had_ to think. _Questions, questions._ Who were these creatures? She'd known for a moment, but it was gone. What did they want? To effectively kill them all, or worse. Where were they? A world made of minds where the only place they were safe was a desert. What did they need? Rose and the Doctor. Those two would be able to fix everything for sure.

 _Psychic. Minds._ Alex's mouth opened slowly as a thought began to form. Could it work? Did they have any other options? Probably not. She grabbed Delta's hand again. "I have an idea."

* * *

"Vanished! Gone! Kaput! I'm sorry, Rose, but I think this might be something we lo— _ah!"_ The Doctor stopped mid-sentenced and grabbed at his suit.

Rose jumped up next to him. "What is it?"

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper. His eyes widened. "Ooh."

"What?"

His eyes scanned the paper, getting wider as he read. He grinned. "Right, I get it. Rose, this is brilliant!" The Doctor tossed the psychic paper to his companion and ran to the controls. He put his hands on a switch, then paused. "Wait, I need that. Give it here."

Rose looked down at the paper. It read, _Doctor! Rose! Help!_ She tossed it back. "A distress call?"

The Doctor set the wallet in a small pan on the console and began working at the controls. "It's Alex! She figured out how to send a message to the psychic paper."

Rose couldn't help but laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Well, I have _no_ idea how she managed that—you'd need an enormous amount of psychic energy, and she isn't exactly Gandhi—but I can use the connection. Ha!"

"You found them?"

"In a moment." The Doctor set the TARDIS into motion. "Might take some time. Well, our time, relatively speaking. They went outside the galaxy, which is _very_ impressive. Unless they have time travel. Either way, we may be in a bit of trouble."

* * *

It was the first time Alex had seen the TARDIS materialize from the outside, and it was absolutely beautiful. The very instant it was no longer translucent, Alex ran to the door and slammed it open with the full force of her body. She made a sound that might have been "Rose!" and threw herself into a hug. Rose squeaked in alarm. Alex pulled back. "Sorry."

"Alex!" The Doctor jumped over to join them by the ramp. He'd cleaned up since Alex last saw him. She wouldn't have thought he'd been injured at all if it weren't for the bandages on his left hand. With his right, he held up his psychic paper. "That was a brilliant idea! Although," he added, suspicion creeping into his voice, " _not_ sure how you did it."

"They're minds," she replied.

Rose stepped out of her personal space. "What's that?"

Alex waved her arms as she talked, stumbling over her thoughts. "The world out there, it's minds. All... minds—like ghosts, or, um, spirit—psychic—things. And the world is... mind... teleke... something. I don't know—I can't remember the word."

"Telekinesis?" the Doctor offered.

"Yes!" Alex nodded furiously. "Yes, telekinesis. The _whole world_ is—and they're doing something—bodies! A-and they—something about a war, a-a-and—"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on." Rose raised a comforting hand, stopped just short of her shoulder. "Calm down. Let's start at the beginning, yeah? What happened to the ship you were on?"

Alex gave herself a moment to collect her thoughts, then explained the situation to the best of her abilities. She did not want the Doctor to know how scared she'd been, nor that she'd nearly died, but she couldn't leave out the part where an alien had "connected to my mind or something. I saw that... the whole world was made of thoughts... or something."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Or something."

Alex gulped. "I don't remember a lot of it. I just know we can... _think_ things into happening out there. I ran away. Those guys helped." She turned to gesture at the kids outside the TARDIS. They'd gathered by the door to peak in and listen. "We got out of the forest."

The Doctor raised his head to get a critical look at the aliens. "How did you decide to call us?"

"One—uh, the..." Alex gestured vaguely. "The one with one eye. Their idea. I just remembered the psychic paper. I think the psychic energy or whatever helped."

The Doctor nodded slowly. He called outside, "You're an Alpha Centaurian, aren't you?"

The alien in question jumped. They nodded. "Yessir."

"Haven't seen one of those in a while. And you." He nodded to Delta. "You're a sensorite."

"Yes."

"You're all so different," the Doctor murmured. "Different homes, different physicalities, different capabilities. Sense psychics, hermaphrohexapods, humans... more, I assume. Who were the voy selling to?"

"Assuming these _are_ who they were selling to," Rose commented. "The Tirmoy ship ended up here, but they all... died. What if the same thing happened to the Tirmus?"

The Doctor nodded. "Good point. Grim, and I'm going to have a word with whoever is responsible, but you do have a point. Kids," he called out suddenly. "Come inside. It's safe. I'm going to see about this psychic energy myself."

The kids were reluctant, but they had to get out of the way when the Doctor came bounding down the ramp to the door, and inside was certainly better than out. Rose followed him to the edge, and Alex stepped around so she could watch the Doctor step outside and immediately freeze in place.

Rose edged forward. "Doctor?"

Silence.

"Doctor?"

"That's..." The Doctor hesitated. He glanced back with a vague scowl. "You weren't kidding. I can feel it. Waves of psychic energy just... _everywhere._ It's not even one specific energy. Biowaves, mechapsyche, electrofields... all trained for the mind. How does this happen?"

Rose slipped out after him. She turned in a circle. "I don't feel anythin'."

"Well, _you_ wouldn't. You're human. Alex only felt it because they were targeting her. Anyway, they're not _here_ here. They're somewhere over in that direction." He waved off toward the trees, barely visible in the dark. "That's where you kids were, isn't it?"

Alex nodded, then remembered he wasn't looking at her. "Yeah."

"Right then. That's where we're going." The Doctor turned to scrutinize the little group of kids on his ship. "I'm gonna have to lock the TARDIS," he decided. "These people are incredibly advanced and possibly experimenting. We don't want them getting their hands—or whatever it is they've got—on Time Lord technology. Don't _touch_ anything."

He directed that final comment at Alex. She nodded. As far as she was concerned, anything the Doctor said was law. Now that he and Rose were here, everything would work out. "What are you going to do?"

"I told you." He jerked his head toward the forest. "We're going into the forest."

Alex moved her hands together nervously. "Then what?"

The Doctor slipped his hands into his pockets. He gave her a reassuring grin. "Then we beat the baddies. Don't worry, Alex. I'm an expert at this."

"O-okay."

He and Rose began to leave, but he stopped and turned. "Oh, and Alex."

"Yeah?"

"Whatever those people said about me, about the Time Lords... It's not true. Understand?"

She had almost forgotten about that. The very fact that he chose to bring it up was unsettling, but Alex nodded.

"We'll be back soon," Rose assured her with a big, happy smile. "Really, this kind of thing is par for the course. A milk run."

"Shut the doors and stay inside," the Doctor said.

"See you kids soon," Rose added. She waved her hand with a flair of the fingers, and they left.

Alex shut the doors.

* * *

"This is bad, right?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor agreed emphatically.

Rose pursed her lips. She knew they'd been making light of the situation for the kids, but some part of her had hoped it really was an easy fix. "Our luck, though. Two disasters in a row that boils down to aliens experimentin' on people. Kids, no less. What's next? Puppies and kittens?"

They reached the edge of the forest. She'd hoped the Doctor would perk up at that, maybe throw out an even darker theory with a lighthearted edge to it, but he kept his gaze stone cold focused on the trees. This must've been serious. Well, Rose _knew_ it was serious—it was always serious—but he wasn't even responding to her inappropriate humour. She put a hand on his arm. "Doctor?"

It took a second for him to respond. He looked down at her with those brand new chocolate eyes of his. "You can't hear that?"

Rose looked into the forest. It was dark, but not silent. No forest was entirely silent. "I hear... leaves, wind... But that's not what you mean, is it? Is it the 'minds'?"

"That's one way to put it," the Doctor exhaled. He stepped up to the nearest tree and raised one hand to the bark. "Rose, did I ever tell you about the Matrix?"

"The movie?"

"No, it's something that existed on Gallifrey."

Rose stilled. The Doctor never mentioned Gallifrey. He didn't like to talk about it. She may have held her breath as he explained.

"It was like..." He hesitated, turned his gaze to the uppermost branches of the tree. "An artificial hive mind. All Time Lords were connected to some extent. You were never really aware, not usually, but one time... I became a part of it. Briefly. It was like a whole universe _screaming_ in my head. I could take it now, of course, but I was young. It overwhelmed me."

Rose looked up at the tree. It looked like a normal tree to her. "Is that what this place feels like?"

"Yes."

She swallowed. "So what're we going to do?"

He stood still a moment, then turned to Rose, hands in pockets. "We're going to walk into it."

Rose smiled nervously. "What, just like that?"

"Just like that." He sniffed and turned back to the wood. "What else are we gonna do, walk away with what we've got? Cut our losses?"

"S'pose not."

"I don't think we could be any more or less prepared," the Doctor muttered. Then, with a resigned sigh, he announced, "In we go!"

They marched under the trees. Minutes passed in silence. It was proper spooky. Not because of the shadows, or the lack of animal sounds, but because the Doctor had gone deathly quiet. Rose didn't want to say anything, in case there was a good reason for this, so she took his hand and began to glance up at him every few seconds, seeking some kind of reciprocation. He kept his eyes determinedly forward. She wished she could see what was going on his head. His silence made her nervous.

A few more minutes passed, and Rose realized that the path they were following only extended so far. That is to say, it was forming ahead of them in the dark. Rustling leaves accompanied the vague shift in shadows up ahead. Where trees blocked their path, trunks moved. Where the brush grew in the way, leaves wilted. Rose turned and walked backwards a step to get a look at the path behind them, only to find an unruly forest. "Doctor," she whispered.

The Doctor grabbed her hand again. Rose yelped in alarm. "Oi—"

"Keep quiet," the Doctor murmured in that gravelly new voice of his. "And keep close."

Rose swallowed. "O-okay. What sort'a danger are we in?"

"We were trapped here the moment we stepped into the forest." He nodded at the path. "This is their plan B."

"Plan B... What was plan A?"

The Doctor scowled, though not at Rose. Pointedly not providing an answer, he tugged at her hand, and they moved on.

Rose didn't dare speak again. From what Alex had said, the creatures in this forest were capable of bothering all sorts of non-psychic entities—humans, for example—but Rose wasn't sensing anything. Now why would these aliens not be interested in the full grown human that had entered their forest shortly after an escape? The only logical answer, given the available information as far as Rose could tell, was that the Doctor was more interesting. And that scared her.

She squeezed his hand. He didn't return the gesture.

The forest grew warm. Rose was about to comment on it when the Doctor raised a hand. They stopped moving. "What is it?" Rose whispered.

The Doctor pointed to the ground. Rose didn't see anything wrong, but she trusted his superior Time Lord senses—so when he jumped back from some invisible danger, she did too.

He squeezed her hand. "Rose."

"Yeah?"

"I think this was a bad idea."

Her heart skipped a beat. "What is it?" she hissed. "What did we just dodge?" He pointed at the ground again. It was pitch dark. "What? I don't see anythin'!"

"The ground opened. There are stairs just below the surface. They want us in the ship." By the tone of his voice, the Doctor wasn't interested in being anywhere "they" wanted them to be.

"The ship?" Rose felt her companion tighten his grip on her hand—or was that her? "There's a ship underground here?"

The Doctor hesitated. It wasn't thoughtful or uncertain; it felt like he was trying to focus. "The ship _is_ the ground. I wondered how it was managing an ecosystem like this. The planet—or the life viable parts, anyway—was grown _around_ it. Dirt, plants, air, everything. The energy output necessary to sustain something like this... They'd need to be able to convert massive amounts of matter into fuel almost instantly."

"Matter—like... organic matter? The kids?"

He shook his head. "Not enough. I'd reckon that ship Alex saw vanish into thin air—that had to go somewhere."

"The entire ship? At _once?"_

" _Shh."_

Rose clamped her jaw shut. "Sorry," she whispered. "So? Are we goin' down?"

"Oh, absolutely," the Doctor affirmed in a loud whisper. "We aren't very well learning much from up here. There's the power source, the center of everything."

"So why's this a bad idea?"

"I should have told you to stay behind with the kids."

Rose sighed. "Well, if that's all." She slapped his chest with the back of her hand. "I'm not your house wife. Come on."

Underground, the silence was more than deafening. It almost seemed to cut out time. Five seconds passed, and Rose wondered if they'd been on these stairs for hours. Five minutes, and Rose was sure they had left the stairs in favor of ridged straight ground almost a day ago. Another two—what were they doing again? Weren't they at a water park? No, they'd just left the burning planet. Had mum called? Did they pick some kid up in the TARDIS? Why had they done that?

The disorientation began to fade when Rose noticed a growing light up head. It was sharply artificial, and it had a faint green tint. The closer they got, the more apparent it became that they were stepping down a metal corridor. Their feet padded softly on maroon carpeting that could have been new, but that was impossible. The trees outside were old, the planet solid; there was no way for that to happen in so short a time frame.

 _This place must be preserved somehow_ , Rose deduced, eyeing her muted reflection in the wall.

They found the source of the light in a small room at the end. It was constructed like a chemistry or robotics lab. An arch of metal that looked to Rose like one of those old computers—so inefficient they needed a whole room to themselves—dominated the back of the room, accompanied by only a desk with various buttons and levers set up under a blank screen. One table took up the center of the room, laden with various tools and equipment, mechanical devices Rose didn't recognize, things that might have been Bunsen burners, test tubes, beakers, wires, and at least two gooey chunks of organic matter sitting in metal bowls. On either side of the room, chairs lined the walls. Metal chairs, all with strange black indents in the arms and down where the legs would rest.

"Bit haunted house," Rose murmured. She leaned in to speak quietly to the Doctor. "Whatchu reckon? Day spa of the science geeks?"

He didn't reply. They hadn't so much as loosened their grip on each other this whole time, but now the Doctor let go of her hand and moved off toward one corner of the room. Rose started. "Hey!"

She caught up and followed him step for step to a door between the arch and one of the chairs. The Doctor seemed to be in a trance, eyes darting around like he saw something Rose didn't.

The next room was a connector piece for the science spa and two other rooms to their left and right. They both stood wide open, practically a part of each other. To the left, a wide, metal table with a shimmering hologram floating above it took up most of the space. The hologram showed… space. Rose could see a number of planets positioned at not-to-scale distances from one another surrounded by glowing spots that glitched like they'd once been in motion. To their right was the ship's control deck, a cluttered space with chairs and switches and a glass hull that showed only dirt now. The captain's chair, the biggest chair in the room, was spun around halfway, not quite enough for a person to stand without difficulty, but clearly too far from the controls to be any good.

The Doctor scowled at the hologram, then he turned his upper body to scan the control deck. Rose had opened her mouth to ask what he was thinking when he spun around suddenly, staring back into the science spa room. He looked stricken.

Rose put a tentative hand on his arm. "Doctor…"

He gave her a swift glance, just a brief flash of attention as though he'd only now remembered he wasn't alone. Then he turned back to the gaping doorway. "It was here," he said softly. "It all happened right here, right… in these three rooms, those two... two people."

Rose gripped a bit of fabric on his sleeve. "Doctor, what're you talking about? What people?"

"They were just there," he blurted, bringing up a hand to point wildly at the wall intersecting the table room and the lab. "A strategist and a scientist. Ooh, everyone here was very class oriented," he added indignantly. "Scientists can't be trusted with the full picture of the war, but no strategist could possibly comprehend the experimental biomechanics she was working on.

"But they were losing." He spun around, eyes on the space between every solid object. Rose had the passing thought that he'd gone mad—but no, he was psychic, and there must have been _something_ here. Or maybe those two things weren't mutually incompatible.

The Doctor went on, gesticulating like he was recounting a memory, "The enemy fleets outnumbered them, and they were out of offensive ideas. The captain wanted to make a kamikaze attack on the nearest ship, but he was tokisheen, and no one else had stake in the war. They just wanted out." He paused. "Slaves. They were slaves, recruited forcibly by voy traders. These two—" He rushed over to the aforementioned wall. "They were discussing the final option. An experiment, a last ditch attempt to escape the war and their impending doom.

"They parted ways." The Doctor moved into the table room. "He suggested they announce an emergency shutdown. Divert all excess energy to the control deck. 'We appear harmless, catch them off guard, speed away to restock and refuel.' And she!" He ran back into the lab. Rose chased after. "She," he continued, approaching the desk, "started the sequence. Identify." He pressed a button. Nothing happened. It must not have had power. "Maintain." Spin of a nob. "Collectivize." The Doctor moved his other hand over a surface of the desk that looked like fleshy goop, like rubber with holes in it, but he hesitated to touch it.

"Preserve," he finished, spinning around for a look at all the chairs along the walls. His eyes were distant. Rose could imagine the chairs were full now, but what with, she wasn't sure. The Doctor murmured, "They could only preserve so many, but they only needed an equal number male and female. Once they were free of the war and safe on their new, homegrown planet—that's part of step three—they would create new bodies to resurrect everyone else."

Rose felt a pit grow in her stomach. "You mean they would breed."

"Well, yes."

"Is that what the kids are for? _Breeding?"_ Rose gagged. "Oh my God, that's sick."

"Well—augh." The Doctor cringed.

"What's wrong?"

"My head," he complained. He pressed a hand against his temple. "Egh, they've been watching us. They didn't expect me to see into them. Ah—ow!"

Rose darted forward to stop him collapsing. He grunted and squirmed. She tried to get his attention, "Doctor. Doct—Doctor, what are they doing? How can I help? Doctor!"

"Gah." The Doctor hissed inward, yanked himself down and out of her grip, one hand over the back of his head. "Nonononono," he grumbled through clenched teeth. "They realized I'm compatible."

Rose was panicking now. "Compatible—what does that mean?"

A sound like a big machine starting up came from somewhere far away. Rose yelped as a tremor ran through the ship.

"I'm a time sensitive telepath," the Doctor growled like it should have been obvious. "My brain is compatible with a semi-hive mind. G-ah—like _them_."

"They're trying to possess you? " Rose interpreted.

"They're desperate for bodies—any bodies, even just _one_ body." The Doctor groaned. He stumbled to his feet, swayed, and leaned against the desk under the arch, head in his hands. "Compared to me, the species they've been experimenting on have matchboxes for brains—" He cut himself off with a frustrated grunt, then proceeded to bang his forehead into the desk. Rose started in alarm, but she didn't dare touch him. "Rose," he gasped, "You've got to shut them down. They're not holding things together, they—they're—the... the energy bubble. Some parts of the planet will wither away, they're too busy taking advantage of this _great opportunity._ " He wheezed out the end of the sentence, pressing his hands into the table like he could push them away.

Another earth-quake. The walls' sheen visibly dimmed, and some corners began to rust, like time was catching up with the place.

 _The entire system_ was falling apart because of _the Doctor._

Not for the first time, Rose was hit with the reality of how massive he would be if his stature mirrored his evolutionary position in the universe. It almost annoyed her.

The ship creaked and groaned. In the distance, something ripped through the air like thunder.

* * *

Elsewhere, a small child was feeling forgotten.

Percy Evans, nine years old, sat in the forest on an alien world. He just wanted to go _home_. He wasn't curious anymore. He wasn't angry anymore. He just wanted to go home and see his mum and dad and siblings again.

At first, he'd thought he would be safe in the forest. That's where everyone else was going, and they all seemed to know what they were doing. But then he was stuck in a cave made of trees, and the safe feeling was gone, and he was scared, and he'd cried again. Weird monsters sat with him on the floor of the cave. They seemed friendly, but they didn't talk. They just made weird noises that Percy couldn't understand.

He felt so alone.

Then the plants started dying, and a wind picked up. Percy didn't know it, but the world he sat upon was a living organism, and the collection of consciousness that kept it running, the spark of life, had grown distracted. Its whispers of excitement drew every thought in one direction, a feeling of hope, a feeling of _freedom._

Percy didn't recognize the external nature of the pull, but he recognized the feeling. He stood with the monsters and began moving away from the cave as it wilted around them. They followed the breeze and the promise of release.

* * *

Rose waved her hands frantically, pacing in tight circles behind the Doctor. "Wh-is there time to get back to the TARDIS?"

The Doctor stayed quiet. Either the answer to her question was no, or he couldn't talk anymore. He was still tense, still breathing heavily. She could even see a bead of sweat on the back of his neck. With a jolt of panic, Rose realized this struggle had been going on this whole time. Why hadn't he warned her? That _bloody idiot—_

 _Okay._

 _Calm down, Rose._

She had to think. There was no getting out of here, so she had to stop the alien ghosts from possessing her best friend. But they weren't ghosts, were they? They were people's minds, preserved by this great big honking computer. What did he say about an energy bubble?

Rose approached the controls. "Okay," she breathed. "Okay. What was it? Identify, maintain… Collectivize. Collectivize… what, the minds? Maybe if I…"

Before she could think about changing her mind, Rose thrust her fingers into the goop. Immediately, something changed. She couldn't place it, but if she had to try, she'd say it was like a seventh sense, beyond what she could have imagined. Oh, the actual sensation of the goop on her hands was weird as hell, but that didn't concern Rose. What concerned Rose was the sense that she was now in two places at once: Here, in her body, in the room of the ship with the Doctor on the planet in space—and there, a realm of sorted information. She imagined a TV show like Star Trek would portray it as some kind of other dimension where she could walk around observing video and audio clips that would teach her things about the computer. It was nothing like that, but she couldn't fathom explaining it any other way.

Rose thought about shutting down the computer. Information whirred by, all meaningless, all irrelevant. The war, and some beings called _Sontarans_ with a terrible reputation for winning. Images of a forest—no, a planet _of_ forests, peace and prosperity, a vague notion of _home,_ but the data was fragmented. Names, most of which she could never pronounce, flashed through Rose's mind, ranks, positions, deaths, and penalties attached.

Finally, information about the ship: It was a type 37 battleship, the latest design at the time of the last update (the year 7003 to its home civilization), and it was completely ruined. The engines were nonexistent, all weapons and defense technology were down, and even if it had any engines or fuel, most of it had been violently separated from this sector ages ago. (No date records available.) There was a hole where an alarm should be, like a double space in text: just... wrong. But there _was_ power.

 _Where?_ Rose thought, and the answer appeared. The power was here. Everywhere. Somehow, the computer had managed to outsource its energy. "He did mention an energy bubble," Rose murmured. Her voice sounded strange and distant; she wasn't even sure she'd spoken aloud. "But where's the source?"

"Rose Tyler?"

That wasn't her voice. It wasn't the Doctor's either, and it certainly hadn't come from the computer. Startled, Rose yanked her hands from the goo and turned, fully expecting to be confronted by some physical manifestation of their enemy.

Instead, she was met with a child. She felt like she should know this child, but with all the new information swimming through her brain, Rose wasn't sure who he was. In order to avoid confronting this issue, she asked, "What are _you_ doin' here?"

The poor boy looked shell-shocked. He pointed vaguely behind him. "Followed the wind."

Rose looked up and promptly had all the air sucked out of her lungs. The wall, the door, the hallway they'd walked in from, an entire corner of the room—it was _gone._ In its place stood a gaping hole that revealed a green glow on the horizon. The solid ground she'd assumed they were walking through had rotted to their level, leaving awkward hills of grainy compost on either side and in the distance, where long-dead tree stumps could be viewed against the sunrise. As for the room, it was crumbling. The computer and the floor were just fine, but bits of ceiling dissolved into dust that fell into her hair.

Then she realized the child wasn't alone. A messy cluster of small aliens stood confusedly around the hole. Movement outside indicated even more heading this way. A light breeze followed them into the ship. Calling it _wind_ was a bit generous, Rose thought, but why had it led them here? Why would there be... an invisible force... migrating this way...

Rose whipped her head around, hair flying, to the source. The Doctor sat on the floor, legs crossed like he was meditating. A grimace and the sight of his hands clutched dangerously around each knobby knee betrayed his lack of calm.

"Right," Rose breathed. "Minds. Yes, right." She looked back. "You're Rachel's kid."

"Percy," said Percy.

"Yeah. Listen, Percy, you can't be here. Go..." She trailed off, eyes on the horizon. Rose had no idea which way the TARDIS was, but it looked like most of the forest had cleared. She pointed. "Go out there, find a blue box. It'll be the only thing not falling apart. You were caught with Alex, yeah? She's there."

The kid perked up. "Alex?"

"Yes, now _go._ " Rose turned away and wiggled her hands over the goop. Her heart beat out a hopeful rhythm in her chest. She was having thoughts about the energy bubble—very intelligent thoughts, if she'd have said so. "I have to shut this down."

* * *

Life is inherently interesting when you first come into the world. It tends to stay that way until around puberty—maybe a little before, maybe a little after—when the concept of mundanity hits. Although most children are aware of the repetition and capitalistic hopelessness in the lives of adults, it is often something of a prolonged shock to experience this for themselves.

Percy Evans was experiencing the exact opposite development. The most interesting event in _his_ life had been the time his mum and dad took him and his siblings to a theme park. The most interesting thing in his _daily_ life was—well, recently it was his upcoming birthday, and convincing his parents to get him a GameCube. Now... Now that seemed ridiculous. And like a child, so very unlike the Well Adjusted Adult, he raised the bar.

He was dimly aware that, had circumstances been just slightly different, he'd have been thoughtless. He'd have run off at Rose's words without a second thought. But Percy had absorbed some information himself, and he was sure that wasn't the right thing to do. He didn't know what Rose was doing, or what was wrong with the man on the floor (wasn't that Alex's dad?), but when he turned, he knew exactly what the aliens and monsters now drifting into the room were feeling. It wasn't something he could put into words; he wasn't sure he would ever be able to put it into words, but the sight of it made it obvious that he had to do something about it.

Percy waved his arms for attention. "Hey!"

The entire crowd of aliens turned to him in shock. One pointed a claw at him. "You can talk?"

Another turned to that one. " _You_ can talk!"

The crowd began chattering anxiously about the sudden ability to understand each other. Percy waved his arms again. An anxious whine escaped his throat. "Heeyy! We're s'posed to go!"

More murmurs, then, "Go where?"

"To... a box! A blue box." Percy glanced back at Rose Tyler, whose birthday must have been going terribly, but she was too focused on... whatever she was doing to help elaborate. He turned back and started moving forward, pointing. "Someone that knows how to get home is there."

The aliens started buzzing again, now turning and making their way out of the metal room. "For real?" one chirped.

"Yeah!" Percy hoped he was right. Alex's dad was here, and she was probably an alien, so maybe the Doctor (Doctor What?) had come here in his spaceship to find her. If that was the case, she _had_ to know what to do.

* * *

Alex hoped she didn't have to do anything else. Rose and the Doctor had seemed pretty confident when they left, and it wasn't like she _could_ do anything else from the TARDIS, but leaving things well alone for others to deal with didn't sit right with her. This nagging feeling still tingled at the back of her brain: _Some small thing is going to go wrong, and I'd have been able to fix it, so it'll be my fault now if something goes wrong and I'm not there._

She substituted silent anxiety with efforts to keep everyone else from panicking. "It's called the TARDIS," she said, voice ringing out in the aftermath of the adults leaving. The aliens collectively relaxed. Though they still scrutinized the ship's interior, knowing its name seemed to help.

"Why can I understand you now?" the Alpha Centaurian chirruped.

Alex gestured at the central column. "TARDIS translates."

"Like the bulbous one?" asked Lollin.

"Like the—oh, Delta, yeah, like her. I guess."

"Is this a ship?" asked Alpha.

"Yes."

"So we could leave," Biston said.

"Not without the Doctor."

"So why'd he leave?" asked Lollin.

As they spoke, Alex moved around to the chair. She sat down. "To save everyone else. There were a lot of people."

From her seat, Alex could watch everyone fidget about without moving her head too much. The green siblings stood shoulder-to-shoulder by the railing. The cyclops she never learned the name of didn't seem to know what to do with its arms, and it had turned a light shade of green. (Probably normal.) Delta held her hands in a nervous gesture over her stomach. She walked briskly to the edge of one short staircase, a position far from the others, and kept her eyes down. Alex wondered if she should say anything to that.

"Can they do that?" Biston asked.

"Why couldn't he send us home first?" Lollin sniffed. "We could be home."

"It's going to be okay," Alex insisted. "It's safe in here. We'll be fine. I promise."

Either they accepted this response, or she somehow came across as unwilling to go any further. Alex had come to understand a quiet console room as the final, horrible moments before real security. Right now, it was fake. That warm hum of the ship all around, the occasional soft whir like a sudden inhale or a sigh... It seemed to her like the TARDIS was trying to make things _feel_ okay when they really weren't.

 _I don't need comforting,_ Alex found herself thinking under the vague half-assumption that the TARDIS could hear. _I'm not some kid, and it doesn't help._

There was a distant thrum like an engine, or something settling. Alex decided to take it as an indignant response.

After a minute or two, she stood and approached the console. The Doctor had said not to touch anything, but he'd also brought up Time Lords totally _not_ being evil monsters, and Alex was going to end up dwelling on one of these things whether she wanted to or not. She put her hand on the console screen and edged it softly sideways. It remained blank. There didn't seem to be any buttons. Maybe the TARDIS didn't want her seeing outside. The thought irritated her.

Her thumb brushed a piece of paper stuck to the frame, a sticky note with precise circular patterns and perfect straight lines, odd doodles that were too specific and consistent to be _doodles._ Some kind of code maybe? A language? Alex made a note to ask the Doctor about it later—but, no. No. The thought made her stomach churn. Maybe it would be best to leave it. Or maybe Rose knew. Maybe she could ask Rose to ask about it. Yeah, that would work. The Doctor liked Rose.

And now she was thinking about him. The Doctor. First impressions aside, she didn't know anything about him. Granted, Alex didn't know anything about most things, and very little about everything else, but the way people treated him made her... apprehensive. It shouldn't have. She was sure about Rose. Rose was good, and Rose trusted the Doctor, so wouldn't it be silly to think anything bad about him or his people?

Anyway, even if that stuff the voy had said about Time Lords was true, the Doctor was a traveler. He hadn't even mentioned his people unless someone else brought them up. It wouldn't be fair to equate him with them.

Who _were_ the Time Lords, anyway?

Alex shivered. She realized that name struck a chord with her. It wasn't unlike _wolf_ or _dalek_ or even the Doctor's suit. Her grip tightened on the console screen. The sticky note fell off at the pressure of her thumb. She picked it up off the console and stared at it, confused and frustrated, before pressing it back into place.

She hadn't noticed Delta approach. "This Doctor will get us home?"

Alex tried to hide her surprise. "Yeah, he will. And Rose. And they're going to get everyone home. Not just us."

She expected some kind of argument, but Delta only nodded. She tilted her head to gaze up at the rounded ceiling. "This place... It's nothing like I've ever seen. It feels alive. There are..." She gestured at her head. "Thoughts. Not like those outside. More calm. Not pushy."

That was interesting. Alex turned and leaned into the coral edge of the console. "What kind of thoughts?"

"Mm..." It was hard to read any sort of expression on the sensorite's face, but the pause felt thoughtful. "Warmth. Age. A sense of time, like when you rest, and the world goes by without you. Do humans have rest?"

That elicited a smile. "Yeah, we have rest. A—" Alex cut herself off with a yawn. "Actually, now that you mention it... I haven't slept in... How long has it been?"

Delta shrugged.

A moment passed. Alex asked, "Have you ever heard of Time Lords?"

"No. Should I have?"

Alex glanced back at the sticky notes. "I don't know." She wanted to add, _I don't know anything,_ but that seemed inappropriate.

Time passed inside the time machine. There were a few brief interactions, but Alex felt uncomfortable with them now that they were out of danger. _Aimless socializing,_ she thought bitterly, rolling the words around in her brain. It tumbled over her memories before she came to a conclusion. _I don't like it._

She felt like going _Ah HA!_ to vocalize some internal victory, but that seemed inappropriate too.

Someone knocked on the door. Everyone jumped. The Alpha Centaurian leapt up from its seat on some steps in the back, trilling like an alarmed bird. For a moment, silence. Then another knock, this time an insistent pound. Someone called softly through the door. Alex ran down the ramp and brought her ear close without touching the wood.

" _Alex! Are you in there? Hello?!"_

Alex gasped. _Percy!_ He was alive! Beyond his voice, there were murmurs. He responded to one, _"_ _I don't know, she told me to come here. It's not safe! Wait—don't go!"_

Alex put her hand on the lock, but she had to hesitate. "Percy?" she called through the door.

A gasp of excitement. _"_ _She's here! I told you. S-stay—tell the others. Alex! Rose sent me! She said it was safe here. Alex?"_

"Who's with you?"

" _U-uh, aliens. The other ones who got kidnapped. Can you come out? They don't want to stay."_

"Don't do it," said Lollin. "It could be a trick."

Alex considered this. Then she considered that the minds hadn't seemed to be able to come out of their forest, and that—even if they were—they hadn't the power to _force_ them out of the TARDIS. And then she considered that, if it really was Percy and a bunch of alien children who didn't want to stick around, she was morally obligated to let them in. She considered this, and then she opened the door.

She was met with a sight. A boy—black hair, tan skin, wide eyes, just a _bit_ shorter than her—fell back from the door. Behind him stood an enormous crowd of alien children. (Alex thought she might have recognized a few of them from her walk into the woods, but maybe not.) Beyond that, the desert stretched on. There was no forest to be seen, and the sky had lightened to a dull grey. A metallic odor permeated the air.

"Whoa," Alex breathed.

"AlexyouneedtohelpthewholeplaceisfallingapartandRosesaidtocomeseeyouatthebox." Percy looked about ready to throw up.

"I got some of that," Alex said slowly. "Are you sure everyone out there is... not from here?"

"Uh... Wha?"

She gazed out at the crowd. No one stood out. "Where's Rose? You said Rose. Where's she and the Doctor?"

Percy swallowed. "She's doin' something with a big machine thing. Your dad looked unconscious."

"He's not my dad. Why's the forest gone?"

"Uhh... I dunno."

Well, that was helpful. Alex considered a moment longer. In the distance, a sound like thunder ripped through the air. The ground vibrated; aliens stumbled. She made her decision. "Okay, get everyone inside."

"What?"

She stepped out of the way so Percy and the aliens could see the console room. About a dozen pairs of eyes widened in shock. "It's huge in here. Everyone come in, but—hey!" The kids started pushing through the door, desperate to escape the tremors. A few gasped. One exclaimed, "There's air in here!"

Alex shouted, "NO ONE TOUCH ANYTHING!" and bounded up the ramp. Her four companions stood nervously by. "Don't let them touch the console," she told them.

Delta cringed at the growing noise as dozens of beings entered the TARDIS, muttering and crying and calling out, "WHOA!"

Alex went over to her. "Are you okay?"

"I cannot take the noise," Delta wheezed.

Alex looked around for some way of helping her new friend. Her gaze landed upon a hollow in the nearest angle of the wall. It was odd, almost difficult to look at, but she got the sense that was where she needed to be. She took the sensorite's hand. "Come on."

Alex led Delta down to the outer ring of the console room. She had never been over here before. It was dizzying; the size of the place was indeterminable from any one point, and it took longer to get from the center to the wall than it felt like it should. Once there, they found that the hollow was actually the entrance to a long hallway that went off to the right after the dip. (Alex's stomach sank at the idea of how big the TARDIS actually was.) An open door stood not far down the hall.

Somehow sure of herself, Alex pulled Delta into this new room. It was some kind of lounge, with chairs and couches and an old television stuck in the wall. A purple vending machine stood in the back. Alex touched a smooth yellow pad next to the door, and it slid shut. The sounds outside faded away.

Delta visibly relaxed. "Thank you."

Alex wasn't sure how she was meant to respond. She settled on "Sure."

"You know..." Delta pointed at the door. "I am not the only sensorite here. If all of the kidnapped children are out there..."

"Oh. Oh!" Alex opened the door and ran out. "I'll send them back here."

"Thank you!" Delta called softly. Once the door had closed, and she was alone in the room, the TV flickered on.

The console room was packed. Every organ in Alex's torso did a flip at the thought of someone accidentally putting them into flight. Sensorites temporarily forgotten, she waded to the center of the room.

"Back OFF." She slapped at a random flipper near the big red lever facing the door. A few aliens quieted down. Alex moved around the console, trying to clear the area. "Stay away from the console! It's safe in here but you could get us all killed if you hit something!"

"People are suffocating out there!" someone called from the door. "Move in! Move in!"

The crowd shifted. Alex fell into the console. Her elbow knocked something. The lights turned red. She dove to flip back the control. The lights went out. Someone screamed.

"Oh no."

* * *

The progression of events went like this.

First, Rose found the psychic "off-switch" in the ship. It involved a lot of fail-safes and firewalls, but the absolute minimum power was currently in use to maintain the field of consciousness. For a moment, as she searched, Rose saw a glimpse of the Doctor's mind. It was just a glimpse, but it was enough. Somehow, the words that came to mind were _black hole._ From there, it wasn't hard. He helped.

Then the field collapsed. Rose felt that she understood it somehow, but she could never explain. The minds—the "ego," they called themselves—scattered. Like bits of metal falling off a demagnetized surface, they dispersed, and the weight on the Doctor's mind was lifted. Rose was only aware of this because, an indiscernible amount of time later, he pulled her out of the computer.

She stumbled back, into his arms, mind spinning.

"I gotcha," the Doctor grunted. He kept a solid grip on her shoulders as Rose tried her best not to fall into the sky. "Disorienting, isn't it? Don't worry, you'll be fine in a few."

Rose found his jacket and held on loosely. The world tilted. "Doctor, I—whoa... I'm _dizzy_." A bark of laughter burst out of her somehow. Funny how that works. One second you're busy saving the world—or the town, or whatever they were doing again—the next, everything's fine and spinny.

The Doctor sighed and patted her on the head. "Alright, let's get back to the TARDIS before the atmosphere disperses. Come on."

Rose yelped giddily as he hoisted her up bridal style and started off. The ship was a rusted hunk of metal resting on black rock and loose sand. The sky had begun darkening again, a sign that the atmosphere was already beginning to escape the artificially enhanced gravity field.

"Bit heavier than you look," the Doctor complained.

"Oi! Am not!"

The Doctor snorted. "That was a compliment! You do a very good job of hiding the f—" Rose cut him off with a weak attempt at a slap. As weak as it was, it proved effective at shutting his mouth. "Ow!"

Rose let her hand slump to her side. "Don't just fake it for me," she muttered.

"No, really, _ow._ You made me bite my tongue."

"Ha."

They broke out in subdued laughter. The Doctor stumbled a bit, and he winced at how his injured hand twisted under Rose's back, but they kept on across the rapidly deteriorating desert.

"Funny we're not seeing any kids," the Doctor murmured. Rose didn't respond. He looked down. She was unconscious. He looked up. The sky was grey. There was very little to breathe anymore. "Hold on, Rose. We're almost there."

The TARDIS doors flew open before they'd come within twenty feet. "Rose!" Alex ran out to meet them.

The Doctor started. "Wait, no—there's no air!"

She was already blinking dizzily when he said that, but no amount of mild discomfort was stopping her that quickly. "Is she okay?"

"Yes, fine, just oxygen deprived. Get back in there! I'm right behind you." He jerked his chin at the door. Alex opened her mouth, seemed to think better of it, and ran back.

The console room appeared from the outside to be sparsely populated. There was Alex, once she got there, Percy Evans, and Delta, the sensorite. They all stood watching the Doctor approach with varying levels of concern.

Then, as he reached a ten foot radius from the TARDIS doors, Delta squealed, "Wait, stop!"

The Doctor's breaths were becoming laboured, but he paused. He looked at her with vague eyes. "What?"

The girl shook her head awkwardly. She glanced at the humans beside her, then back into the TARDIS. Finally, or after three or five milliseconds, Delta ran outside and grabbed the Doctor's hand.

It was the left hand. He let out a painful sound and lost his grip on Rose. She fell headfirst to the rocky ground. The Doctor tried to pull away. "What—"

An explosion of light burst from some indiscernible position between him and Delta. A sound like a thousand distant, tiny screams filled the air; Percy and Alex clamped their hands over their ears. Alex cringed, backing further into the TARDIS, and missed what happened next.

* * *

She removed her hands from her ears and heard—

—silence—

—the Doctor gasping for breath—

—the clatter of three bodies somehow making it through the police box doors.

"What happened?" Percy squeaked. He backed out of the way as the Doctor stumbled to his feet and went for the console.

Rose and Delta lay unconscious on the floor.

"Alex, close the door," the Doctor wheezed.

Alex did as she was told. She had to drag Rose out of the way, and by the time she'd done that, the sky outside had gone dark. She stood for a moment, captivated by some kind of sparkling out in space, like the remnants of the world, and the rocky ground that was swiftly losing its integrity. She could see the curve from here. The forest had created the illusion that this rock was a proper planet, but it couldn't have been any further to the point where the horizon dropped out of sight than... what, three football fields? Alex had never been on a football field, but she thought she might have known what that entailed.

"Alex, _the door!"_

She jumped. "Right," she exhaled, and closed the door.

The Doctor jumped around the controls best he could, but he seemed to be struggling to stand unsupported, and the wounds in his arm had reopened. "We have to get out of here," he muttered. "The power source keeping the asteroid in orbit is gone. It'll fall into the sun—I'm sorry." He raised his voice suddenly— "We can't go back for the others. They're all gone. No doubt suffocated, bodies fallen into space."

Alex thought about explaining how that hadn't happened actually, but she was more concerned with her unconscious friends. She hovered over them nervously. "What happened to Delta?"

The Doctor didn't reply at first. He furiously jiggled a single control back and forth—some kind of twisted knob—then banged on the console with his uninjured hand. He winced.

Alex bit her lip. "Are you...?"

The Doctor leaned into the console with a frustrated sigh. He began inspecting the bloody bandages on his hand. The sound of another earthquake, or maybe some space thing, rattled the TARDIS doors. "I didn't see—" He stopped. There was a moment, just a single second, where his thoughts were written on his face. _I'm talking to a child._

He cleared his throat, and his voice changed. "The ego—er, the minds were following us."

"I thought they were trapped in the forest."

"They were, but Rose destroyed their power source. Drained it. That act alone jump-started the decay of the world they created. It needed that power just to exist."

"Oh."

"But they latched onto me. I didn't _realize_ —they weren't making themselves known, and if they'd got into the TARDIS—well..."

Alex replayed the event in her mind. Delta was some kind of psychic. She must have seen, and—

"I never knew much about sensorites," the Doctor murmured. "Touch psychics. When I met them, they needed a technological conduit to speak telepathically. And they wore gloves. That's ages into the future, though. Something must have changed in their society. Got less keen on physical contact."

Alex looked down at her alien friend. Her stomach burned with some unidentified emotion. Delta didn't seem to be breathing... but did sensorites even have lungs? She didn't want to ask. "Is she—"

"Dead? No. We'll talk about that later."

She looked up again. "What about the ego?"

"Gone."

"No, I mean what were they doing? Did you find out? Why did they want kids? How were they doing all that?" The questions spilled out before she could think to be afraid to ask.

The Doctor bit his tongue tentatively. The TARDIS shook, a subtle jolt, and Percy yelped. The Doctor started. He said, "I'll explain later," and gestured to the console. "Come help me out. This is a multi-handed job. I could do it if we had more time, but we're in a tight spot."

Alex felt more inclined to stand confused by the door for a few more minutes, but she knew that wouldn't be any sort of helpful. She ran up the ramp and awaited instruction. The Doctor pointed out some bits of the console and started pushing buttons and pulling levers. The console started moving to the groan of the engines. Alex focused on the wiggly compass thing he wanted her to keep pointing at the other thing.

"Press the yellow button now. Hold it down for a minute." Doing so, she glanced back at Rose and Delta. The Doctor didn't seem worried, but he noticed her look. "It's gonna be fine," he assured her. "I have a top notch med bay somewhere in here. Rose hit her head, but no permanent brain damage. Just a bump anyway, and... some static interference, but that's fine. You can let go of the button. Blue switch."

"What?"

"That one there. Bend your wrist. I'm sorry, though," he added, voice tight with emotion. "I'm sorry we couldn't save all of them. But we did stop them, the ego. They're gone now. Won't kidnap any more children. And we got Percy, so that's something."

Alex blinked and snapped herself to attention. "Oh, no."

"What is it? Twist this for me."

She stepped around to do as he said. "Like—"

"No! No, no, the other way."

"Ah."

A quiet sigh of relief. "It's fine."

"Doctor."

"Hm?" Lever, bang, and the wheezing stopped.

"They're not dead."

The Doctor finally looked at her properly. "I'm sorry?"

Alex gestured loosely toward the walls. "The kids. They're all here. A lot of them, I mean. I don't know how many."

The Doctor's eyebrows did something that indicated either shock or disbelief. He glanced back at Percy, who seemed to take it as a cue. He said, "I brought 'em here. Rose told me to go to the box, so I... got 'em to come with me. Is... is that okay?"

"They were crowding the room," Alex added. "But then the halls glowed, and some doors opened, and we um, we found a bunch of rooms. Most of them were bedrooms, and like lounges. Some were weird, but some people said it looked like home. I think—I think a lot of them are probably sleeping. They didn't want to stay in here."

The Doctor grabbed the console screen and fiddled with the controls. He raised his hands away with a soft inhale. "Well, I'll be— That's—that-that is a _lot_ of kids. Blimey." He turned to Percy with an appreciative grin. "Well done, Perce!"

Percy grinned back.

"Now," the Doctor exclaimed, spinning the screen away from himself, "let's take care of these two. Hold on." He ducked under the console and fiddled with something beneath the main controls. A panel just below the loft slid open. Six empty shelves waited inside. "Haven't had to use these in a while."

The shelves turned out to be hovering stretchers. The Doctor pulled out two, and the kids helped get the human and sensorite onto them. They pushed them to a wall and through another invisible corridor.

"Why can't we see the halls from the console room?" Alex asked.

The Doctor snorted. "Rose took a week to ask about that. It's new, actually. Thought I'd give optical illusions a shot in designing the new desktop."

A knot loosened in her stomach. She'd expected a negative response. Emboldened, she asked, "How big is this place?"

"Very."

"...O-okay."

Percy jumped in. "Are you guys aliens?"

"Well, that's all a matter of perspective, isn't it?"

They rounded a corner.

"What?"

Alex thought about it, intent on understanding where Percy was lost, but she didn't get it. "What?" she echoed.

"We're not on any of our home planets," the Doctor pointed out. "What do you think that makes us?"

Alex's mouth formed a silent O. Percy let out an "Ahh" that Alex suspected (hoped?) was still a bit confused.

The walls changed. After a turn or two, the TARDIS decor went white. The med bay opened up at the end of a corridor. It looked like a smaller version of the console room: round, full of coral designs. Some untidy beds stood in the back, and various medical-type machines collected dust on one side of the room. It clearly hadn't been used in a while.

The Doctor moved Rose into an empty space on the left side of the room. Alex started pushing Delta over, but he stopped her. "Put her over there." He pointed to a space opposite Rose, by one of the machines. With an extra boost of anxiety, Alex obeyed. Percy stayed by the door, out of place.

The Doctor took his time with some headphones from a compartment in the wall. He used them, presumably, to monitor, repair, and/or maintain Rose's brain. Alex watched the process from beside Delta. The sensorite was very still. Alex tried to catch a glimpse of breath, but she couldn't be sure she wasn't imagining when the alien's chest rose and fell.

 _Touch psychic,_ she remembered, and she placed a tentative hand over Delta's. It wasn't very warm, but it hadn't been very warm earlier. The alarming thing was that, in her mind, she felt no disturbance.

She didn't notice when the Doctor had finished up with Rose. Now he stood over her, face somber. When she looked up, he asked, "What was her name again?"

"Delta," Alex replied.

He didn't move to do anything about her condition. Alex waited, silently daring him _not_ to help her.

Finally, the Doctor reached around touch Delta's bulbous forehead.

A moment passed.

"I could say she's alive," the Time Lord admitted. "But that depends on your definition of life." He pulled away. "I'm sorry, Alex. The attack was too much. Delta's not waking up."

A moment seemed to go by in emptiness, like Alex's internal clock had been reset. By the time it started ticking again, she'd forgotten what he'd said. All she knew was that her new friend (and it suddenly felt daft to think of herself as having friends; how long had she known anyone, really?) was no longer there. All she could think was that it wasn't fair, that Delta (was that really her name? Wasn't that a Latin or Greek word?) had saved everyone, that without her communication, they would all be dead. And who knew what the ego would have done had they managed to fully possess someone—had the Doctor and Rose not been summoned? Delta had saved everyone, hadn't she?

From a distance, Alex heard a small voice. "Oh."

* * *

The Powell Estate smelled of unfamiliar people. (Alex wondered if it was possible for a human to tell the difference between humans and humanoid aliens by scent. Another question for the back burner; she didn't think she would be sniffing the Doctor to find out.) The Evans and a few straggling friends had finally left upon the return of little Percy. It was like they didn't even realize that the rest of the world had lost children too. Lots of smiles and relieved laughter had been exchanged.

Now they were gone, it was just her, Mickey, Jackie, and the Doctor. The latter two stood in the hall arguing in hushed tones about Rose being unconscious in the TARDIS still. It was rather one-sided.

Alex watched from the kitchen table, hands wrapped tightly around a Mother's Day mug filled with tea, trying to sort the chaos in her head. It really was chaos—nonsense, but thick enough to cloud whatever part of the brain was responsible for making decisions. Half of it related to herself, observing her own emotions and comparing them to the events of the past day or so like she was some kind of science experiment. The rest were scattered thoughts: Had it really been a day? Had it been more? What was the time difference between her experience and those who had stayed behind here? She hadn't slept that whole time (unless she counted being knocked unconscious, but it hadn't felt restful). It was starting to catch up with her. She yawned. It occurred to her that she'd only slept three times (four?), and that she'd never remembered her dreams. How did she know what dreams were if she couldn't remember? Was there a reason she couldn't remember? Did the Doctor dream? Did he sleep? She remembered that he was a Time Lord, and all those thoughts about what that might have meant came flooding back. She tried to think of something else, and an alien face swam in her mind; she went back to the Time Lords.

Mickey sat down across from her. "Good to see you safe and sound." He spoke like she was actually in the room with him. "S'pose it was pretty scary, huh? First time I got kidnapped by aliens, I went into shock. Stayed home for a week. If I didn't have my mates, I might'a gone mad."

Alex blinked a few times. "First... time?"

Mickey smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, well, I guess the Sycorax hardly count. That didn't last long. So—" He changed topics with a practiced ease. "—how're you feelin'?"

"I'm fine," Alex muttered. Despite herself, she couldn't look him in the eye. "I'm just tired. I think he brought us back sooner than it's been."

Mickey tilted his head. "You mean it's been longer for you?"

She nodded.

"How long?"

"Um... little over a day?" As if on cue, she yawned again. It lasted longer than was in any way comfortable.

"Whoa," Mickey exclaimed in mock amazement.

Alex took a sip of tea. Her stomach growled. She hadn't had anything to eat since cake. The warmth slipped down her throat and settled in her empty stomach.

"But seriously, though." Mickey lowered his voice. He leaned forward, and Alex struggled to interpret the gesture. Was he trying not to be heard by Jackie and the Doctor? Did he think that would get her to focus? Make him seem more serious? He kept talking, so she forced herself to stop wondering. "Somethin' like that can traumatize a person. Fact that you're a kid—"

"Why does it _matter_ I'm a kid?" As the words left her mouth, something temperate pushed its way through her chest, down to her stomach, and dispersed uncomfortably. For a moment, Alex panicked. What was that? Was she poisoned? Was it the tea? It happened again, and then she recognized it. _Anxiety_. Emotions were making her sick. Great. Her voice took on an unstable quality. "Sor—well... I-I'm... I did good. I helped save everyone." She ran her thumb along the side of the mug. When she looked up, she was smiling weakly. "No one else could've done that."

Mickey raised a cautious eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

Alex thought about that. "I... tried to talk to them. They noticed me 'cause I wasn't being like everyone else. Um... Maybe that didn't... do much, though. Uh. I did—well, when they... I got free, on the planet. No one else could have. And I knew—I know the Doctor, and his psychic paper, and if I didn't, they'd all have died."

"You're not being super clear."

"I don't _have_ to," Alex snapped. "If I wasn't there, they'd all be dead, and it would keep happening, but it won't, so I did good."

Mickey raised his eyebrows. "What, all on your own?" He sounded genuinely impressed.

"I—well." Alex returned her gaze to the tea. The steam had thinned out. "No. No, obviously not. I couldn't've. No one could've. That-that's the point."

The sound of the others' voices had faded. Mickey hesitated. "You know, I was gonna say something about how ridiculous it was that you'd managed to get brought into space, with this as, like, evidence. You looked, well..." He cleared his throat. "But you're proud of it, aren't you?"

Alex smiled. There it was, something solid. An interpretation that wasn't _unfair_ or just—mental chaos _._

Mickey frowned.

Alex grinned. "Yes."

It was at this moment that the Doctor and Jackie came into the room. The former had his hands in his pockets and was looking anywhere but anyone. Jackie went for the kettle.

"Proud of what, sweetheart?" she asked, passing Alex. She'd managed a neutral expression, but her voice was tired.

Alex tried to sort her thoughts again. She felt compelled to put weight on that word. _Proud._ What came out was almost deceptively casual. "Saving the world."

Jackie turned sharply to the Doctor. He shrugged admittedly. "She did help."

"I fought them off," Alex yapped. Everyone looked at her with a question in their eyes. Her heart flitted in her chest. She leaned back, trying to avoid eye-contact, but ended up failing miserably as the words came tumbling out. "They were controlling everyone. They made us walk into this place, mansion made of trees, and everyone was walking like they knew where we were going, but I realized what was happening and..."

Once Alex started talking, she couldn't stop. She went into everything. She emphasized the significance of her very strong and powerful ability to resist the aliens' mental manipulation, which had been _the_ deciding factor in whether or not everyone would escape. She even figured out how to use the minds' powers against them—and maybe anyone could use it, but she might have forgotten to mention that. She'd summoned the Doctor and gotten everyone in the TARDIS at the end with no problem. She'd saved the day! No, she'd saved _people._ Lives. Aliens. Good aliens. Kids. They were all alive because of her.

All except...

But Jackie didn't have to know about that.

When Alex was done, she wasn't sure whether she felt better or worse. Could you feel both at once? She supposed, maybe, you could, and decided to contemplate that later.

"Sounds like you did good," said Mickey.

The Doctor had stayed to listen and drink tea, but now he set down his mug. "I ought to go check on Rose. And those kids." A distant look came over him. "I'm going to have to bring them all home. Every one..."

Jackie nodded. "Well, you'd better go do it then. I _trust_ you, Doctor. Take care of my girl, and those kids."

Alex looked between the two of them. They'd been arguing just a few minutes ago. Now Jackie looked tired; she gave the Doctor a meaningful look, and he nodded, and Alex bit the inside of her lip because the fact that something was happening there without her understanding was suddenly the most annoying thing in the world.

The Doctor waved a vague hand and left, throwing an after-thought "good job saving the world, Alex" over his shoulder.

As they heard the apartment door close, Mickey sighed. "I can leave too if you want."

Jackie looked at Alex appraisively.

Alex cocked her head.

Jackie nodded. "Prob'ly best, yeah. I gotta get this one cleaned up. I mean, look at you!" She gesticulated around Alex's general form. "You're all covered in dirt and grass stains. Dress torn up, hair's a mess—you're in for a thorough cleaning, you are."

An hour or so later, it was just Alex and Jackie in the apartment. The former sat yawning on the living room couch, ends of her wet hair twisted around one finger. She'd started dozing in the shower. It felt wrong that the sun was still up.

It was so wrong...

Jackie sat down in the chair opposite her. Alex looked up. Her eyes felt heavy. The chaos in her mind had quieted to a thick, sleepy fog. She didn't fight it. She was using it to fight away the unwanted thoughts, and she knew it. She knew it, and she pushed that away too.

"How long've you been awake, love?" Jackie asked.

Alex shrugged and hummed her uncertainty.

Jackie folded her hands on her lap. She studied the girl. Alex didn't like it. (She couldn't remember why.) When the studying was done, Jackie spoke softly. "I can't begin to know what you're going through right now. I don't want to make things worse, but you don't have anyone to go home to—and that's _not_ okay."

Alex stopped messing with her hair. She wasn't sure what to say to that.

"And you... might not for a while," Jackie continued, twiddling her thumbs. "And I don't know if you're okay with that, but I'm sure as hell not. I don't know who you were or where you came from, but you're a child, and I'm a mother, and I can't allow it." She paused. Alex didn't know where this was going, but she was too tired to come up with theories. Jackie exhaled suddenly. "Oh, of all the things... But I've made up my mind. Alex, you may well end up going back out there, but I won't let that machine be your home. So from now on, you can think of me as your home. Right here. This flat. Just like Rose." She nodded sharply, punctuating the speech.

Alex's ears started ringing. She rubbed at one absently with her thumb. "Like... Rose. Is that... different from now?"

Jackie opened and closed her mouth. "It... It'd be like I adopted you. You don't just stay in the TARDIS—and I _know_ you're not gonna stop, but you need a _home._ So you come live here, and I'll get a proper mattress, not like that blow up one you slept on at Christmas, and I know you won't be able to go to school regularly, but I can sort something out." She stopped for a breath. "You need a family, Alex. And a _home_. Somewhere stable, and I can be that for you. Is that alright?"

Alex blinked. An odd feeling was making its way up from her stomach to her throat. It got to her head and buzzed around a bit before settling down, and it occurred to her that she _did_ understand what Jackie was saying. It just wasn't processing. "Adopt..?"

Jackie lowered her head in a patient nod.

Alex shifted so she was sitting up straight. Legs crossed, hands in her lap, heart racing, she asked, "So like... Alex Tyler?"

A genuine smile made its way onto Mrs. Tyler's face. "If you like! I could prob'ly get the paperwork. Might have to get some help since you don't properly exist, but yes, if you... If you want that." Alex smiled back, and Jackie clapped hands together. "Ooh, I'm all excited now! Think you'd start callin' me 'mum'?"

"Probably not."

"Yeah, that's fair." They shared a smile. A moment passed, and then Jackie exclaimed, "Well, you'd better get some sleep, hadn't you? And when was the last time you ate? I'm gonna get some food in you, then off to bed. You can use Rose's for now. Come on! I've got leftovers."

* * *

Alex woke up the next morning to the sound of the TARDIS wheezing into existence. She'd already jumped out of bed and started fishing through her pile of clothes ( _her_ pile, _her_ clothes; was ownership supposed to feel strange?) before her body remembered to feel groggy. She stopped to stretch—arched her back, arms twisted over her head and a great big _yawn_ —then pulled on an outfit in knowing oblivion to what exact shirt and pants she had just put on her body.

Extra hours notwithstanding, it was her sixth day in the world. Yesterday had been 20% of her entire life, which was far too much if you'd have asked her. She had a lot to absorb.

* * *

 _A/N:_

 _And now back to our not-regularly not-scheduled program._

 _Reminder that I have a growing writing community on Tumblr! The Open Mind Palace (link in my bio) is a place for anyone whose skills go largely unnoticed, whose stories could use some encouragement, and whose participation may inspire others~ All forms of creative writing are welcome_

 _Please comment if you can! It means the world to hear about what went right and what went wrong and how these developments look from an outside perspective. Cheers._


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